HHS Official Calls to Lower Marijuana on Drug List

A top official at the Department of Health and Human Services is calling to reclassify marijuana as a Schedule III drug, which would reduce the restrictions on its sale, Bloomberg reports.

Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine recently wrote a letter to Drug Enforcement Agency administrator Anne Milgram saying that marijuana ought to be reclassified as a Schedule III drug under the Controlled Substances Act from its current status as a Schedule I drug, a category that indicates a drug has a high risk of abuse and no medical benefits.

Levine said that this recommendation came after a review of the drug’s classification by the Food and Drug Administration.

The HHS and DEA did not respond to requests for comment.

President Joe Biden previously asked the HHS secretary and the US Attorney General to begin the procedures to review marijuana’s classification according to federal law.