US Agency Recommends Reclassifying Marijuana as Less Dangerous Drug

  • Several steps, and debate, remain before move becomes final
  • Easing restrictions on pot could help Biden with young voters

Cannabis plants grow at a greenhouse near Camarillo, California.

Photographer: Jill Connelly/Bloomberg
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The US Justice Department has recommended that cannabis be reclassified as less risky, a decision that could help the growing legal marijuana industry benefit from tax breaks.

Attorney General Merrick Garland on Tuesday “circulated a proposal to reclassify marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III,” according to a brief department statement. “Once published by the Federal Register, it will initiate a formal rulemaking process as prescribed by Congress in the Controlled Substances Act.”