However, marijuana is a Schedule I drug, and was classified as such in the 1970s, when the drug was deemed highly addictive and dangerous.
But cannabis could be made a Schedule III drug, a lesser classification, if the Department of Justice gets the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to agree.
What effects does marijuana have on users?
The way cannabis exhibits in users is entirely dependent on the strain, the amount, and the way it’s consumed.
For example, if you smoke cannabis, Healthline dictates it could take between two to ten minutes to begin showing. However, edibles can take anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours to effect your body.
Essentially, once the THC psychoactive compound enters the blood stream, it can immediately begin to speed your heart rate by 20 to 50 beats per minute for several hours, as per WebMD.
From there, you might get red eyes thanks to blood vessels in the eyes dilating.
By 20 minutes, the THC will be fully absorbed if you have smoked it, and if you ate edibles, it will be longer than that as it needs to be metabolized by the liver. Once that’s completed, the brain will be stimulated with pleasure and euphoria, leading the user to feel relaxed.
But in some people, or some strains, it can actually make people feel anxious and they’ll panic.
Some people go on to get the munchies, where they’ll feel suddenly hungry as the THC stimulates the olfactory bulb, which boosts taste and smell, leading to the brain to think it’s hungry.
Around 30 minutes in, you’ve probably reached the peak of your high, which can then last from five to six hours.
But be warned, your judgement can be impaired for up to 24 hours, leading you to lack your full concentration potential. If you partake in dabbing (pipes and bongs), it usually lasts around one to three hours as you take a quick and concentrated hit.
The reclassification of marijuana in the US
“The Justice Department today announced that the Attorney General has submitted to the Federal Register a notice of proposed rulemaking initiating a formal rulemaking process to consider moving marijuana from a schedule I to schedule III drug under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA),” it said in a statement in May.
The announcement continued: “Marijuana has been classified as a schedule I drug since Congress enacted the CSA in 1970. On Oct. 6, 2022, President Biden asked the Attorney General and the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to launch a scientific review of how marijuana is scheduled under federal law.
“After receiving HHS’s recommendations last August, the Attorney General sought the legal advice of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) on questions relevant to this rulemaking. In light of HHS’ medical and scientific determinations, and OLC’s legal advice, the Attorney General exercised his authority under the law to initiate the rulemaking process to transfer marijuana to schedule III.”
What was Trump’s response?
Speaking on August 11, President Trump replied to questions about the reclassification, stating: “We’re looking at it. Some people like it, some people hate it — some people hate the whole concept of marijuana because if it does bad for the children, it does bad for people that are older than children.
“But we’re looking at reclassification, and we’ll make a determination over the next, I would say, over the next few weeks — and that determination hopefully will be the right one.”
What would reclassification mean for cannabis?
Reclassification could mean that the drug will be easier to access on a mainstream level, dwindling the black market.
Dr Carl Hart, a psychologist and neuroscientist from Columbia University explained to BBC News: “When you legalise a compound, far more people would go to the legal market, just because it’s simple and people don’t have access to the black market. The illicit market would certainly dwindle.”