The American government is preparing to reclassify cannabis as a less dangerous drug, a decision with potentially very significant implications, Agence France-Presse learned Tuesday from a source close to the American authorities.
With nearly three-quarters of Americans living in a state where the drug is legal, this new federal classification could have significant economic repercussions, by encouraging medical research on cannabis, and by easing a number of regulatory and tax constraints. .
According to this source, who requested anonymity, the Department of Justice will recommend Tuesday to the White House Budget Office to move cannabis from category 1, that of substances considered very addictive and of no interest. medical, such as heroin, to category 3, in which certain codeine drugs are found, for example.
This is a step in the reclassification process, which is expected to take some time.
Both the White House and the Department of Justice declined any comment on this information, first revealed by the American agency Associated Press.
The leader of the Democratic majority in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, welcomed in a press release a decision “recognizing the need for a change in restrictive and draconian cannabis laws to adapt to what science and a majority of Americans say clearly.
“Congress must do everything in our power to end federal cannabis prohibition and address the long-standing ills caused by the ‘War on Drugs’” of the 1970s.
Canadian border
President Joe Biden announced in October 2022 a series of measures to expunge the federal convictions of people sanctioned for simple possession of cannabis, thus removing obstacles they may encounter in terms of access to employment or housing.
He also called on health and judicial authorities to rethink the penalties associated with marijuana.
In 2020 and 2022, the House of Representatives then dominated by Democrats adopted a bill aimed at removing cannabis from the federal list of dangerous drugs, but faced opposition from the Senate.
Following the legalization of cannabis in Canada in 2018, US Border Patrol agents began imposing lifetime bans on entry into the United States on Canadians who responded positively during checks to the question if they had already consumed it.
According to a survey released by Pew Research in March, 88% of Americans think marijuana should be legal, for medical use, for recreational use, or both.
Twenty-four American states, plus the District of Columbia where the capital Washington is located, have already legalized cannabis, and 14 others authorize only medical use.
This institute calculated in February that 74% of Americans now live in a state where the substance is legalized either for recreational use or for medical use.