President Donald Trump confirmed on Monday that his administration will consider reclassifying cannabis as a less dangerous drug.
The president revealed his consideration during a press conference in the White House briefing room.
“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. It’s a very complicated subject,” Trump said.
The president issued his comment when asked if it would be sending mixed messages by downplaying marijuana while offering to crack down on crime in Washington, DC.
“I’ve heard great things having to do with medical, and I’ve heard bad things having to do with just about everything else — but medical, and, you know, for pain and various things,” Trump said.
“Some people like it, some people hate it,” he added.
“The Wall Street Journal first reported that Trump was weighing rescheduling marijuana from a Schedule 1 drug to a Schedule 3 drug,” reported ABC News. “Classified as a Schedule 1 drug, marijuana is listed alongside heroin and LSD as ‘drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.’”
“By contrast, Schedule 3 drugs are defined as those with ‘moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence’ and include ketamine, anabolic steroids and testosterone,” it added.
In 2023, President Joe Biden’s administration reportedly looked to loosen laws regulating cannabis (marijuana), which some advocates said only amounted to a symbolic gesture. Breitbart News also reported in 2022 that a study showed marijuana use has reached record levels for young adults and may soon become a practice among the majority. According to a Monitoring the Future study by scientists at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research, marijuana and hallucinogen use steadily climbed among young adults between 19 and 30 compared to just ten years ago:
Past-year, past-month and daily marijuana use (use on 20 or more occasions in the past 30 days) reached the highest levels ever recorded since these trends were first monitored in 1988. Marijuana use in the past month was reported by 29% of young adults in 2021, compared to 21% five years ago (2016) and 17% 10 years ago (2011). Daily marijuana use also significantly increased during these time periods, reported by 11% of young adults in 2021, a significant increase from 8% in 2016 and 6% in 2011.
Past-year hallucinogen use had been relatively stable over the past few decades until 2020, when reports of use started to increase dramatically. In 2021, 8% of young adults reported past-year hallucinogen use, representing an all-time high since the category was first surveyed in 1988. By comparison, in 2016, 5% of young adults reported past-year hallucinogen use, and in 2011, only 3% reported use.
Alcohol still remains the popular substance of choice among young adults, while binge drinking and high-intensity drinking have seen an uptick since the pandemic.
The study came months after a U.K. study published in the journal Lancet Psychiatry showed people who use cannabis with a THC potency above five to ten milligrams per gram have a higher risk of addiction and mental health problems. Study co-author Tom Freeman, director of the addiction and mental health group at the U.K.’s University of Bath, told CNN in an email at the time that high-potency cannabis users have a “four-fold increased risk of addiction” over low-potency cannabis users.
“A report by the United Nations found that in the past two decades, the proportion of people seeking treatment for cannabis addiction has risen in all world regions apart from Africa,” he said.
Roughly three in ten people in the United States have been diagnosed with marijuana addiction, according to statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Likewise, the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction found a 76 percent increase in treatment for marijuana addiction over the past decade.
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