Even though 23 states in America currently have medical cannabis programs of some kind, cannabis remains a Schedule I drug. This means that it is deemed to have no medical purposes at all, and cannot be used for medical testing. Even if it is rescheduled, it will probably become a Schedule II drug, which means it will be considered to have some medical value and will be eligible for some testing but it will still be deemed dangerous. Therefore, the best possible option is to deschedule cannabis, making it a controlled yet legal substance like alcohol or tobacco. Here are the five main reasons why cannabis should be descheduled instead of rescheduled.
There could still be roadblocks to research with rescheduling.
There is no denying that it would be a lot better if cannabis was a Schedule II drug rather than a Schedule I. As Schedule I, any research at all in the medical properties of the plant are technically illegal, and can only be carried out in states where medical or recreational cannabis is allowed. Even then, they are subject to being shut down and have to rely on private funding. It would be much better if some studies on cannabis would be allowed. However, all those wishing to study the plant would still have to jump through numerous hoops just to get their studies approved. It would be much better if all scientists and doctors were able to test cannabis. That way, we could know all the facts about what it does and what it is, and we’d be able to help as many sick people as possible.
Legal, recreational cannabis can make each state, and the country, a lot of money.
Medical cannabis is wonderful because it can heal and help the sick. But if we only consider medical cannabis and allow the substance to remain illegal, we pass up all the money that cannabis could yield to poorer states, and to the country in general. Many states have been suffering such extreme financial troubles that they’ve had to cut their budgets and get rid of things like education and welfare initiatives. The money generated from legal cannabis sales can help build schools, feed the homeless, give back to the community, and do so much more. This is why it makes more sense to take cannabis off the Schedule system altogether.
Cannabis will continue to be on the black market if it is not fully legalized.
Many think that cannabis should not be recreation, but that it should be allowed as medicine for those who need it, and it should be available for testing. This is all good and well, but the fact is, cannabis is not going to go away and get off of the black market until it becomes fully legal. This means that people will be able to prosper from the fact that people can’t get cannabis, sell it at high prices, sell low-quality cannabis, and engage in more sinister criminal activity in order to sell it. If cannabis gets fully descheduled, it will be off the black market for good, and everyone will have access to buying it safely and legally.
Issues will persist between states if they all have different laws.
As long as cannabis remains labeled as either Schedule I or Schedule II, yet some states allow fully legal cannabis, there are going to be issues between the states. People will try and sneak cannabis into other states to make profit, states next to legal states will become angry about their neighbor’s policy, and people will get harassed by law enforcement because they are from a certain state. If cannabis was descheduled and everyone had the same access to it, none of these things would be problems anymore.
Keeping cannabis as Schedule II will still enforce negative stereotypes about it.
Lastly, if cannabis remains classified as a dangerous drug with only some medical properties, in the same category with cocaine and methadone, people are still going to view cannabis as a very harmful substance that can ruin the lives of teens, destroy families, and rot your brain. This is the same train of thought that gave birth to the drug war and Reefer Madness in the first place. If we truly want to get rid of these negative stigmas, cannabis needs to be taken off of the Schedule system.
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