# Marijuana to become a Schedule III drug **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Tags:** weed-pot-marijuana\ **Created:** [April 30, 2024, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-to-become-a-schedule-iii-drug/1000986 "2024-04-30T23:01:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2024, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-to-become-a-schedule-iii-drug/1000986/1 "2024-04-30T23:01:12Z")
Story here. > **[US poised to ease restrictions on marijuana in historic shift, but it'll...](https://apnews.com/article/marijuana-biden-dea-criminal-justice-pot-f833a8dae6ceb31a8658a5d65832a3b8)** > > In a historic shift, the U.S. moves to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug, AP sources say. It really ought to be fully legalized at this point since it’s de facto legal in most states now anyway, but this is a step in the right direction. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2024, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-to-become-a-schedule-iii-drug/1000986/2 "2024-04-30T23:07:26Z")
Wonder if psilocybin is right around the corner? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2024, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-to-become-a-schedule-iii-drug/1000986/3 "2024-04-30T23:07:33Z")
It never made sense that it was considered as bad as heroin and meth, and worse than cocaine and morphine. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2024, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-to-become-a-schedule-iii-drug/1000986/4 "2024-04-30T23:18:47Z")
It is about time and I have virtually no interest in smoking it at this point in my life. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2024, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-to-become-a-schedule-iii-drug/1000986/5 "2024-04-30T23:25:22Z")
Long overdue. Other Schedule III drugs are Tylenol with Codeine and testosterone. Examples of Schedule IV are Xanax, Valium and Ambien all of which are probably more dangerous than weed. Examples of Schedule V are cough syrup like Robitussin AC. If weed needs to be scheduled at all maybe here would be more appropriate. Nevertheless, I’ll take it. It’s a pretty big step and the most we could reasonably hope to happen. ---
**Author:** ![FinsToTheLeft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finstotheleft/32/2930_2.png) [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-to-become-a-schedule-iii-drug/1000986/6 "2024-05-01T00:42:35Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Wonder if psilocybin is right around the corner? Up here in Canada, it’s the next frontier. Cannabis has been completely legal at the federal level (and thus all provinces and territories) since 2018, but shroom stores keep opening and getting shutdown by the police. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-to-become-a-schedule-iii-drug/1000986/7 "2024-05-01T00:56:47Z")
What’s a “schedule”? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-to-become-a-schedule-iii-drug/1000986/8 "2024-05-01T01:00:20Z")
> **[Drug Scheduling](https://www.dea.gov/drug-information/drug-scheduling)** > > Drug Schedules Drugs, substances, and certain chemicals used to make drugs are classified into five (5) distinct categories or schedules depending upon the drug’s acceptable medical use and the drug’s abuse or dependency potential. The abuse rate is... Basically, it’s a rating of how dangerous/illegitimate various drugs are. Schedule I drugs are the worst, and Schedule V drugs almost completely innocuous. Except that, until now, marijuana has been up in Schedule I with the really scary ones, for reasons that nobody really understands but probably mostly boil down to racist fear. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-to-become-a-schedule-iii-drug/1000986/9 "2024-05-01T01:03:16Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > It is about time and I have virtually no interest in smoking it at this point in my life. IKR? It’s been legal here for years. I can go to any number of shops. But I’m not 20 anymore, so I never have. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-to-become-a-schedule-iii-drug/1000986/10 "2024-05-01T01:04:06Z")
To elaborate, Schedule I drugs are supposed to have no recognized medical value and a high capacity for abuse, and includes things like heroin and ecstasy. Schedule II is for highly addictive drugs that have limited medical value, like meth (which can be used as an ADD treatment) or cocaine (used as a local anesthetic for specific kinds of surgeries) or PCP (which apparently has some use as an anti-schizophrenic). Schedule III, which marijuana is being moved to, puts it in a category of drugs with general medical value but a middling capacity for abuse, on par with codeine cough syrup, or ketamine, or mild opioids like suboxone. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-to-become-a-schedule-iii-drug/1000986/11 "2024-05-01T01:45:35Z")
I don’t even like pot, but this is long overdue. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-to-become-a-schedule-iii-drug/1000986/12 "2024-05-01T01:49:34Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > > [@What\_Exit](#): > > > > It is about time and I have virtually no interest in smoking it at this point in my life. > > IKR? It’s been legal here for years. I can go to any number of shops. But I’m not 20 anymore, so I never have. Same here, plus from what I hear the current stuff is way more powerful than the weed I smoked, oh, say – OMG half a century ago. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-to-become-a-schedule-iii-drug/1000986/13 "2024-05-01T02:09:35Z")
It generally very much is. This means I take one puff instead of several. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-to-become-a-schedule-iii-drug/1000986/14 "2024-05-01T02:10:25Z")
Ok, now it’s starting to sound like a challenge. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-to-become-a-schedule-iii-drug/1000986/15 "2024-05-01T10:41:16Z")
Thanks. I’m still confused about the use of the word “schedule” that doesn’t seem to match the way the word is used anywhere else, but I don’t want to hijack the thread by pursuing it further. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-to-become-a-schedule-iii-drug/1000986/16 "2024-05-01T11:14:37Z")
It’s a long overdue step in the right direction, but still a bit of a joke that cannabis is considered more of a concern than diazepam. I use cannabis pretty much every day, but each year I stop using it for two weeks as a tolerance break (and also because per-acute cessation is interesting). I challenge anyone to use diazepam daily for a year and then stop cold turkey. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-to-become-a-schedule-iii-drug/1000986/17 "2024-05-01T11:32:31Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > Same here, plus from what I hear the current stuff is way more powerful than the weed I smoked, oh, say – OMG half a century ago. That’s a positive- it means you just need less to achieve the desired result. Plus, nowadays you don’t need to pull out an album cover and fork with all the seeds 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-to-become-a-schedule-iii-drug/1000986/18 "2024-05-01T11:47:03Z")
I think this will mean that the financial services industry can work with the Cannabis industry. [Financing a Cannabis Business & Legal Limitations | Cannabis Law Center | Justia](https://www.justia.com/cannabis-law/financing-a-cannabis-business/#:~:text=Many%20ordinary%20businesses%20pursue%20loans,illegal%20business%20risky%20and%20complicated). That would mean that cannabis growers could get crop insurance and workers comp for their employees. That dispensaries can get small business loans. That distributors can hire third party payroll companies. All of those are now legally fraught. It might also make it legal to carry small quantities on an airplane. (TSA might need to separately update their rules, but probably would. I can’t imagine they really want to waste resources busting travelers for carrying weed.) I agree that schedule 3 is a bit of a joke, but it would be a truly enormous change. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-to-become-a-schedule-iii-drug/1000986/19 "2024-05-01T11:51:23Z")
Well, that only took fifty years! 😆 ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2024, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-to-become-a-schedule-iii-drug/1000986/20 "2024-05-01T12:08:59Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > IKR? It’s been legal here for years. I can go to any number of shops. But I’m not 20 anymore, so I never have. From what I’ve seen of dispensaries around here, a significant amount of folks (at least quarter or more) who go there are middle-aged or older. Lots of people take it for pain relief and such. My guess is the median age is somewhere around 35-40.The one stat I could find online is that in Illinois, 42% of cannabis sales are to consumers over 41. It’s not really just a young person’s game. I personally know several people who had never smoked until they hit their 40s, in one case 60s. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marijuana-to-become-a-schedule-iii-drug/1000986.md?page=2)