One initiative of the Biden administration that, surprisingly, President Trump didn't kill off and counter immediately was an effort by the Justice Department to finally reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug.

That effort is ongoing, and Trump has reportedly expressed frustration about it moving too slowly. And now today, under newly promoted Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, a new order takes a first step toward federal legalization of cannabis, reclassifying medical marijuana as a Schedule III, rather than a Schedule I drug.

As the Associated Press reports, this represents "a major policy shift long sought by advocates who said cannabis should never have been treated like heroin by the federal government."

The new order still does not make medical marijuana legal at the federal level, per se, and it has no bearing on state laws in 24 states that have made recreational marijuana fully legal. However it goes against nearly 90 years of precedent, going back to the Marihuana Act of 1937, which broadly prohibited the drug and led to its classification with the most dangerous narcotics.

Blanche even points to California as a pioneer in a statement today about the reclassification, and sounds downright progressive on the cannabis front saying that regulation has come a "long way" since California adopted its policy in 1996.

"Today the vast majority of States maintain comprehensive licensing frameworks governing cultivation, processing, distribution, and dispensing of marijuana for medical purposes," Blanche writes. “Taken as a whole, they demonstrate a sustained capacity to achieve the public-interest objectives ... including protecting public health and safety and preventing the diversion of controlled substances into illicit channels."

Blanche said in the official DOJ announcement, "The Department of Justice is delivering on President Trump’s promise to expand Americans’ access to medical treatment options,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. “This rescheduling action allows for research on the safety and efficacy of this substance, ultimately providing patients with better care and doctors with more reliable information.”

The reclassification means a serious windfall for state-licensed medical marijuana companies, as the AP notes, which will now be able to deduct business expenses on their federal taxes for the first time. And it leaves in limbo those cannabis retailers in two dozen states where recreational use and sales are legal, but who also sell tax-free cannabis to medical-use patients.

Today's move precedes an administrative hearing being held by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) on June 29 at which the broad rescheduling of marijuana to Schedule III will be discussed.

"Under the direction of President Trump and Acting Attorney General Blanche, DEA is expeditiously moving forward with the administrative hearing process — bringing consistency and oversight to an area that has lacked both,” says DEA Administrator Terry Cole in a statement.  Cole adds, "Our men and women in law enforcement remain committed to fighting drug cartels, the fentanyl epidemic, and protecting American lives."

While medical cannabis is legal in 40 states, and several others allow for low-THC and CBD oil for medical use, and while a majority of Americans support legalization, political pushback from conservative Republicans continues to this day — making the moves by the Trump administration somewhat surprising.

Trump clearly sees the political winds here more clearly than the 20 Republican senators who continue to oppose marijuana legalization or reclassification.

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