Clinton Would Reschedule Marijuana, Respect State Laws

If elected present, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton would reschedule marijuana to facilitate its medical research, one of her top senior policy advisers said.

Currently, the substance is listed as Schedule I, which means that it is considered to be easily abused, has no medical value and is as dangerous as heroin, notes USA Today.

The news comes shortly after the Drug Enforcement Administration announced that, after much deliberation and investigation, it would not move marijuana to a Schedule II designation, which would have facilitated more research on the dangers and medical value of the substance, while still remaining an illegal drug. It would also enable medical professionals to prescribe it to patients across the nation.

“Marijuana is already being used for medical purposes in states across the country, and it has the potential for even further medical use,” Maya Harris, a senior policy adviser to Clinton’s campaign, said in a statement, according to Business Insider. “As Hillary Clinton has said throughout this campaign, we should make it easier to study marijuana so that we can better understand its potential benefits, as well as its side effects.”

Harris continued, saying that Clinton would also “ensure Colorado, and other states that have enacted marijuana laws, can continue to serve as laboratories of democracy.”

Though Clinton continues to oppose legalizing the drug for recreational use, she has said in the past that she will keep an open mind on the matter as it develops, and leave it up to the states for now.

“I think that we have the opportunity through the states that are pursuing recreational marijuana to find out a lot more than we know today,” she said during an October 2015 Democratic primary debate, according to CNN. “I do support the use of medical marijuana, and I think even there we need to do a lot more research so that we know exactly how we’re going to help people for whom medical marijuana provides relief.”

​Sources: Business Insider, USA Today, CNN / Photo Credit: Katheirne Hitt/Flickr