(LifeSiteNews) – Almost 50 organizations are joining forces to urge the Trump administration to retreat from plans to downgrade the federal classification of marijuana, arguing it would expose individuals and society to needless harm.
Last week, President Donald Trump confirmed he is considering changing marijuana from its current classification as a Schedule I drug (which places it alongside hardcore addictive narcotics such as heroin), to the far milder Schedule III (which would put it alongside legal drugs that can be misused, such as Tylenol with codeine).
The Daily Wire reported that several dozen organizations, including CatholicVote, Family Research Council, the National Narcotic Officers’ Associations’ Coalition, the Drug Enforcement Association of Federal Narcotics Agents, Smart Approaches to Marijuana, Eagle Forum, American Principles Project, and more have signed a letter to Trump urging him not to go through with the move.
The groups stress that the proposal to reclassify marijuana “would result in serious harm to public health and safety, with a particular emphasis on the welfare of children.”
“You have an opportunity to make a stand for the safety of children across America by opposing the flawed proposal to reschedule marijuana,” the letter states, pointing out that “(c)ontrary to popular belief, drug scheduling is not a harm index. Rather, it balances the accepted medical use of a substance with its potential for abuse. Schedule I drugs have no accepted, safe medical use and a high potential for abuse. Marijuana fits squarely within this definition, a fact acknowledged in every scheduling review prior to 2023 (the Obama administration recommended against rescheduling in 2016).”
Downgrading marijuana, it further notes, would mean “airline pilots, airline maintenance workers, bus and truck drivers, locomotive engineers, subway train operators, ship captains, pipeline operators, personnel transporting hazardous materials, and other safety-sensitive transportation employees would be prevented from being tested for marijuana use.”
There is a substantial body of evidence that marijuana use carries significant risks, both to the user and to those around him, despite libertarian arguments that the issue is a “victimless crime” and a matter of personal liberty.
Dozens of studies have found a link between marijuana use and developing psychosis and schizophrenia, particularly when used in one’s teens or early 20s, when the brain is still developing. States that have legalized marijuana have also seen increased deaths from traffic accidents.
Shortly after Colorado became the first state to legalize recreational marijuana in 2012, Sgt. Jim Gerhardt of Denver’s North Metro Drug Task Force said he has “seen children infant age that have been getting into this stuff and hospitalized, and this has been under medical marijuana. I can’t imagine how bad it’s going to get with full blown legalization (…) All the problems we’ve already had have exploded, and I think they are going to get worse.”
Trump has had a mixed record on marijuana in his first term, expressing openness to some reforms yet rescinding some Obama-era policies that were supportive of medical cannabis, all while infamously advocating capital punishment for drug dealers. Last year, he endorsed a failed amendment to decriminalize recreational pot in Florida after meeting with Kim Rivers, a major legalization donor and CEO of cannabis company Trulieve.
