Federal Govt. Seeks to Downgrade Marijuana's Classification Despite Mounting Evidence of Real Danger

The federal government is considering a big change for marijuana, by declaring it a far less dangerous drug.  The move would be an enormous economic boost for the people who legally sell the drug because the reclassification would allow them to deduct business expenses from their federal income taxes and expand their reach.  

On December 2, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency will hear testimony on whether to reclassify marijuana from a Schedule One drug to a Schedule Three drug. 

Schedule One drugs include heroin, ecstasy, LSD, and currently marijuana.  A downgrade to Schedule Three would put it alongside anabolic steroids, ketamine, and Tylenol with codeine.  

Those who sell Schedule Three drugs are allowed to deduct business expenses, such as payroll, rent, and advertising from their federal taxes, while those who sell illegal Schedule One drugs may not.  

That would give an enormous economic boon to the $30 billion marijuana industry because the 15,000 marijuana dispensaries nationwide spend an estimated 70 percent of their total outlay on expenses that are not currently but may soon be tax deductible. The economic windfall would allow them to spend more on advertising, opening new stores, and could enable them to charge less to consumers.

Anti-marijuana activist and attorney David Evans, representing Cannabis Industry Victims Educating Litigators, will testify against marijuana's reclassification at the December second hearing. He told CBN News the government is ignoring pot's well-documented dangers.

"They're selling addiction to make money, and they don't give a d*** about the public," he said. "The FDA is not going to have to study it at all."

Evans will point to today's high THC concentration in the drug, which is exponentially greater than in past decades.  THC is the substance that induces intoxication. That increase in potency has led to well-documented links to numerous health problems, including psychosis.

"We're now seeing a lot of that," Evans said. "It causes mental illness, depression, suicidal behavior."

One example is Zach Plant who was diagnosed with cannabis-induced psychosis after his marijuana use caused him to lose touch with reality while experiencing hallucinations, delusion, and paranoia.

"I had thoughts of other people wanting to hurt me," he told CBN News. "Thoughts of the only way of being safe was to end my own life."

While Zach's symptoms didn't persist, doctors gave him a warning.

"If you smoke marijuana again, there's a chance you don't come out of psychosis," he said.

Zach is not alone. Doctors regularly see the dark side of marijuana use, including Dr. John-Paul Jansen, an internal medicine specialist who told CBN News how he has personally witnessed various harmful side effects in patients who consumed today's high-THC marijuana. 

"As it became legal, definitely saw more delirium, hallucinations, paranoia, as side effects of this, and even just depression and anxiety," he said, adding other side effects include severe vomiting, heart and lung complications, sexual dysfunction, and stomach paralysis.

"They would come in and have long bouts of being unable to eat. This would last for three or four days. And it was well known that it was due to marijuana," the doctor said.

Armed with these and similar stories, David Evans and others will object to the DEA's plan, which would loosen economic restrictions on those who sell it.  

"It's a political, financial, move to cater to the marijuana industry and to young people," Evans said.

The reclassification process will likely face legal challenges and will take months to complete.  It's unclear whether the incoming Trump administration will call for a shift in DEA priorities, which could put the move on hold.