title:  The DEA Will Deliver Some Big News About Marijuana This Year
text: The Drug Enforcement Agency released a 25-page memo on Thursday saying that they hope to come to a decision regarding the reschedule of marijuana sometime in early 2016. The DEA currently considers marijuana to be a dangerous drug with no medical benefits and is Schedule 1 drug under the Controlled Substances Act.That means that marijuana is considered to be as dangerous as heroin. To further drive home how absurd the United States  drug policy is, Methamphetamine is in the Schedule 2 drug category. As far as the DEA is concerned, marijuana is less harmful than crystal meth.Marijuana s current schedule status is a slap in the face to science. At this point, no one can seriously deny the medical benefits marijuana has. Marijuana has already been proven to be an effective treatment for many illnesses, and as a means of managing the side effects of harsher treatments such as chemotherapy. That s why 23 states have legalized marijuana for medical purposes.The U.S. has a major problem with prescription painkillers. Between 1999 and 2014, more than 165,000 have died from overdoses related to prescriptions opioids. Marijuana has not only proven to be an amazing alternative to opioids as a pain management treatment, studies have also shown that marijuana use can help people suffering from opioid addiction.While a decision to reschedule marijuana down from a Schedule 1 controlled substance would help to make it easier for individuals working within the cannabis industry, marijuana advocates say that the rescheduling of marijuana  falls well short  of reflecting the nation s attitude towards the plant.Paul Armentano, the Deputy Director for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) wrote a blog post where he said: Reclassifying the pot plant from I to II (or even to schedule III) continues to misrepresent the plant s safety relative to other controlled substances such as methamphetamine (schedule II), anabolic steroids (schedule III), or alcohol (unscheduled), and fails to provide states with the ability to fully regulate it free from federal interference.Further, the federal policies in place that make clinical trial work with cannabis more onerous than it is for other controlled substances   such as the requirement that all source material be purchased from NIDA s University of Mississippi marijuana cultivation program   are regulatory requirements that are specific to cannabis, not to Schedule I drugs in general. Simply rescheduling cannabis from I to II does not necessarily change these regulations, at least in the short-term. So yes, it would be great news for the DEA to reschedule marijuana. It would make federal drug policy one step closer to reflecting reality. However, a plurality of people in the U.S. now wants marijuana to be legal for recreational use. Four states and Washington D.C. have already legalized the sale and use of marijuana for recreational use. Those states have had phenomenal success with their marijuana policies. Now is the time for lawmakers to take bold action to write the wrong that is marijuana prohibition.Featured image via Joe Raedle/Getty Images) 