By Maria Ortiz
Mar 15, 2024, 10:48 PM EDT
Vice President Kamala Harris called the current classification of marijuana under federal law “absurd” during an event at the White House on Friday and said she looks forward to seeing what the Drug Enforcement Administration decides about moving it to a category different.
“I am confident that the DEA is working as quickly as possible and will continue to do so, and we look forward to the product of their work,” Harris said at the start of a roundtable on cannabis policy with Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a handful of people who received pardons from President Joe Biden for minor cannabis offenses, and rapper Fat Joe.
“No one should have to go to jail for smoking marijuana,” Harris said, framing the issue of marijuana reform as a criminal justice issue that disproportionately harms black and Latino men.
The vice president’s comments occurred while increases expectation for the DEA to release its final decision on the Department of Health and Human Services’ (DSS) recommendation to move marijuana (or cannabis with more than 0.3 percent THC) to a less restrictive category under the Controlled Substances Act.
Marijuana is currently classified as a Schedule I narcoticjust like LSD and heroin, meaning it is considered has no acceptable medical uses and has a high propensity for abuse.
“Marijuana is considered as dangerous as heroin and more dangerous than fentanyl, which is absurd, not to mention blatantly unfair,” Harris said.
Last year, the Department of Health and Human Services recommended that cannabis be reclassified from its current treatment as a “Schedule I” drug to a Schedule III drug with a moderate potential to cause addiction.
The decision now falls to the Department of Justice’s Drug Enforcement Administration.
The White House event is the latest sign that the Biden administration plans to tout its efforts to reform federal marijuana policiesbefore the 2024 presidential elections.
Biden also cited his efforts to pardon federal marijuana offenders and relax federal restrictions on marijuana during last week’s State of the Union address.
A whopping 88% of Americans support legalizing marijuana, according to a Pew Research Center poll conducted Oct. 10-16, 2022, and that position is particularly popular among young voters, a crucial demographic with which Biden is fighting to maintain its support in the 2024 elections.
Nearly 40 US states have legalized marijuana use in some formbut it is still completely illegal in some states and at the federal level.
The United States imprisons more people than any other country. One in five of those 1.9 million people is behind bars for a drug-related crime.
Keep reading:
– Which states will ask voters about recreational marijuana use in the midterm elections?
– Key aspects you should know about marijuana in the United States
– Congress sends first marijuana bill to Biden