WASHINGTON (CB) — A historic shift in American drug policy has just taken place. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has decided to reclassify cannabis, moving it from Schedule I alongside heroin to Schedule III. While this proposal will still need to be reviewed by the White House and will not make cannabis a federally legal drug, this policy shift could have widespread impact across the country, including additional research into medical benefits and use. This appears to be the latest in a series of election year moves pandering to a populace the incumbent leader hopes to secure votes from.

MMGA! Make Marijuana Great Again - make it illegal! The legalization of cannabis has dampened its allure, created far too strong strains of the sticky icky, and participated in the raising of a cowardice youth.

On a recent trip up north, I set an over/under of 12.5 recreational cannabis stores. It was a bad line as the over smashed within the first third of the trip. We flew by places like "Campfire Cannabis," "Mountain Medicinals," and the creatively named "We Sell Weed Here." With the expanded access to reefer, its appeal has dampened considerably. As Groucho Marx said, "I wouldn't want to belong to any club that would have me as a member."

These stores were all promoting different strains that promised things like creativity, euphoria, and pure panic attacks. Bring back the crunchy mids of yesteryear that made your throat scratchy, your appetite large, and your conversations with your parents uncomfortably awkward. Purchasing weed shouldn't be streamlined and easy for experimenting youth. This process should be inconvenient and dangerous. It should take you to parts of your city and surrounding towns you wouldn't have even known existed.

This historic move paves the way for additional medical research and perhaps an expansion of the pardons that were granted back in October 2022. Potentially allowing additional non-violent felons to re-enter society and ease the burden on some of our correctional facilities. It could bring about medical breakthroughs that might save millions of lives. But it could also steal the valuable teenage life experience of being robbed behind a PETCO by a guy from homeroom.

AP STORY