News has surfaced that the DEA might be on the brink of rescheduling marijuana at a national level. In a memo to lawmakers, the DEA stated that they will be making a decision on whether or not they will reclassify the plant. Currently marijuana is a “Schedule I” drug and is defined on http://www.dea.gov/druginfo/ds.shtml as:
“Schedule I drugs, substances, or chemicals are defined as drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. Schedule I drugs are the most dangerous drugs of all the drug schedules with potentially severe psychological or physical dependence. Some examples of Schedule I drugs are: heroin, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), marijuana (cannabis), 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (ecstasy), methaqualone, and peyote.”
That means heroin, meth and LSD are put in the same class as marijuana and are considered to have absolutely no medicinal benefits.
If rescheduled, the DEA would most likely classify marijuana as a Schedule II drug. This classification would place marijuana in the same category as heavy prescription pills that are legally prescribed to patients by licensed doctors. Pills like Vicodin, Demerol, and OxyCodone are all Schedule II drugs.
This is a major step for the medical marijuana community because the government would be clearly indicating that it would be foolish for them to continue to advocate that there are no medical benefits to marijuana when it is so clearly helping many constituents for their respective health issues. With 24 states currently allowing marijuana to be used medicinally, it’s only a matter of time until public opinion changes and the majority will vote out this archaic classification.
The drug enforcement agency is expected to make their decision by the first half of 2016. Until they do, those who require medicinal marijuana will still be stigmatized as using a drug with zero health benefits, and in the government’s eyes, using a drug that is legally akin to heroin and meth.
With the medical marijuana law of Montana in jeopardy, Montanans who rely on cannabis to help them with their ailments are waiting anxiously, hoping for a light at the end of the tunnel. If changed, the law in Montana will undoubtedly follow suit with the federal government and end the torment and injustice facing the 13,000 patients who are at risk of having their medicine taken away.