US relaxes rules around marijuana in first major drugs policy change in 50 years

The change will see cannabis placed in the same category as ketamine and some anabolic steroids

The US is set to downgrade marijuana to classify it as a less dangerous drug – in the first major drugs policy change in 50 years.

If approved by the White House Office of Management and Budget, the country’s Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will recognise the medical uses of cannabis and acknowledge it has less potential for abuse than some of the nation’s most dangerous drugs.

However, it will not legalise the drug for recreational use – although 24 states have already done so separately. Cannabis is also legal in 38 of 50 states for medical use.

Marijuana is set to be downgraded to a less dangerous drug by the US.

The move will declassify marijuana from its existing position as a Schedule I drug alongside heroin and LSD, to Schedule III, where it will sit alongside ketamine and some anabolic steroids, following a recommendation from the federal Health and Human Services Department.

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Justice Department director of public affairs Xochitl Hinojosa said: “Today, the attorney general circulated a proposal to reclassify marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III. Once published by the Federal Register, it will initiate a formal rule-making process as prescribed by Congress in the Controlled Substances Act.”

In 2022, US President Joe Biden called for a review of federal marijuana law and moved to pardon thousands of Americans convicted federally of simple possession of the drug. He has also called on governors and local leaders to take similar steps to erase marijuana convictions.

“Criminal records for marijuana use and possession have imposed needless barriers to employment, housing, and educational opportunities,” Mr Biden said in December. “Too many lives have been upended because of our failed approach to marijuana. It’s time that we right these wrongs.”

Jack Riley, a former deputy administrator of the DEA, told US media he had concerns about the proposed change because he thought marijuana remained a possible “gateway drug” – one that may lead to the use of other drugs.

“But in terms of us getting clear to use our resources to combat other major drugs, that’s a positive,” Mr Riley said, noting that fentanyl alone accounts for more than 100,000 deaths in the US a year.

Other countries have also made a shift to loosen regulations on cannabis. Last month, Germany made marijuana partially legal for personal use, in what is believed to be the most lenient stance in the European Union.

Under the new rules, adults in Germany are allowed to carry up to 25g of dried cannabis on them, hold 50g at home and cultivate up to three marijuana plants at their home.

Meanwhile, in the Netherlands it is a criminal offence to possess, produce or deal drugs. However, the Dutch government has a "toleration policy" that allows coffee shops to sell cannabis under strict conditions.

Adults in Malta may carry up to 7g of cannabis and grow up to four plants at home based on legislation passed in 2021, but smoking marijuana in public is still banned. Private consumption is also tolerated in Luxembourg.

In 2018, the federal government of Canada announced that recreational use of cannabis would no longer violate criminal law. Legal cannabis products are sold through retailers authorised by provincial and territorial governments.