Legalizing Marijuana

Legalizing Marijuana

Introduction

The 1970 Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act divided substances into categories based on their medical use and potential for addiction. Marijuana, along with heroin, mescaline, and lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), is a Schedule I drug, meaning that the Drug Enforcement Administration legally classifies marijuana and cannabis as (a) carrying a high potential for abuse, (b) without currently accepted medical use in the United States, and/or (c) lacking accepted safe use even with medical supervision (Joy, 2008). Even with this classification, for a brief period, the federal government allowed citizens to apply for relief from this law as ...