Reschedule Cannabis
The rescheduling of cannabis in the United States is the proposed removal of cannabis from a Schedule 1 of the Controlled Substances Act, which is one of the most tightly restricted category of drugs. The effort to reschedule cannabis has been underway since the 1970s.
From wikipedia:
Former director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws Jon Gettman has argued that marijuana does not fit each of the three statutory criteria for Schedule I. Gettman believes that “high potential for abuse” means that a drug has a potential for abuse similar to that of heroin or cocaine.[1] Gettman argues further that since laboratory animals do not self-administer marijuana, and because marijuana’s toxicity is less than that of heroin or cocaine, marijuana lacks the high abuse potential required for inclusion in Schedule I or II.
Gettman also contends: “The acceptance of cannabis’ medical use by eight [now thirteen] states since 1996 and the experiences of patients, doctors, and state officials in these states establish marijuana’s accepted medical use in the United States.”[2] Specifically, Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington have enacted legislation allowing the medical use of marijuana by their citizens.[3] A minimum of 35,000 patients are currently using medical marijuana legally in these states, and over 2,500 different physicians have recommended it for use by their patients.[4]
In his petition, Gettman also argues that marijuana is an acceptably safe medication. He notes that a 1999 Institute of Medicine report found that “except for the harms associated with smoking, the adverse effects of marijuana use are within the range of effects tolerated for other medications.” He points out that there are a number of delivery routes that were not considered by the Institute, such as transdermal, sublingual, and even rectal administration, in addition to vaporizers, which release marijuana’s active ingredients into the air without burning the plant matter.[5]
A study published in the March 1, 1990 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences stated that “there are virtually no reports of fatal cannabis overdose in humans” and attributed this safety to the low density of cannabinoid receptors in areas of the brain controlling breathing and the heart.[6][7] Gettman claims that the discovery of the cannabinoid receptor system in the late 1980s revolutionized scientific understanding of cannabis’ effects and provided further evidence that it does not belong in Schedule I.
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