A decision on whether to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug in the US won’t come until after the November presidential election, a timeline that raises the chances it could be a potent political issue in the closely contested race.
The US Drug Enforcement Administration last week set a hearing date to take comment on the proposed historic change in federal drug policy for December 2.
The hearing date means a final decision could well come in the next administration. While it’s possible it could precede the end of President Joe Biden’s term, issuing it before Inauguration Day “would be pretty expedited”, said cannabis lawyer Brian Vicente.
That could put a new spotlight on the presidential candidates’ positions on marijuana. Vice President Kamala Harris has backed decriminalising the drug and said it’s “absurd” to have it in the DEA’s Schedule I category alongside heroin and LSD. The Democratic nominee’s position has shifted over the years; she once oversaw the enforcement of cannabis laws and opposed legalised recreational use for adults in California while running for attorney general in 2010.
Former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, signalled support for a Florida legalisation measure on Saturday, following earlier comments that he increasingly agrees that people shouldn’t be jailed for the drug now legal in multiple states, “whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing”.
During his run for president in 2016, Trump said that he backed medical marijuana and that pot should be left up to the states. But during his first term, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions lifted an Obama-era policy that kept federal authorities from cracking down on the pot trade in states where the drug is legal.
Trump’s campaign didn’t immediately respond to a query about his position on rescheduling the drug.
The Justice Department proposed reclassifying it in May, saying the change would recognize marijuana’s medical uses and acknowledge it has less potential for abuse than some of the nation’s most dangerous drugs. The proposal, which would not legalise marijuana for recreational use, came after a call for review from Biden, who has called the change “monumental”.
The DEA has said it doesn’t yet have a position on whether to go through with the change, stating in a memo that it would keep weighing the issue as the federal rulemaking process plays out.
The new classification would be the most significant shift in US drug policy in 50 years and could be a potent political issue, especially with younger voters. But it faces opposition from groups such as Smart Approaches to Marijuana.
Its president, Kevin Sabet, argues there isn’t enough data to move cannabis to the less-dangerous Schedule III category, alongside ketamine and some anabolic steroids. The DEA’s move to hold the hearing is “a huge win in our fight to have this decision guided by medical science, not politics”, he said in a statement, adding that 18 states’ attorneys general are backing his opposition.
The hearing sparked some consternation among pot industry players, though little surprise about the DEA decision to hold one.