(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump on Monday confirmed he and his administration are considering reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug.
Trump told reporters that it was early in the process but that he hoped to make a decision on the matter within the coming weeks.
“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 very complicated subject,” Trump said as he held a news conference in the White House briefing room.
Trump was in the briefing room to announce a federal takeover of Washington’s police force and deployment of the National Guard to deal, he said, with the city’s crime and homelessness. He was asked at the news conference if reclassifying marijuana would send mixed messages as his administration says it wants to “clean up” crime in the nation’s capital and potentially other cities.
The Wall Street Journal first reported that Trump was weighing rescheduling marijuana from a Schedule 1 drug to a Schedule 3 drug.
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 define as those with “moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence” and include ketamine, anabolic steroids and testosterone.
During the final year of the Biden administration, the Drug Enforcement Administration said it supported recommending the reclassification of marijuana.
Reclassifying marijuana would allow for more research into the drug and provide tax benefits to the cannabis industry.
Trump on Monday said he’s heard good and bad things regarding the drug.
“I’ve heard great things having to do with medical, and I’ve had 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,” the president said.
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