The move will ease restrictions on the drug, but a group of House Republicans have criticized the action.
By Catholics for Catholics
President Trump signed an executive order on Thursday to relegate marijuana from the most restraining category of drugs, easing some limitations and allegedly permitting for more research, but a group of House Republicans opposed the move.
According to Fox News, Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, and House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., led 24 other GOP lawmakers in a letter to Trump, in which they urged him to keep marijuana a Schedule I drug under Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) regulations.
“We write to urge you to oppose rescheduling marijuana, a harmful drug that is worsening our nation’s addiction crisis,” the letter said. “Reclassifying marijuana as a Schedule III drug will send the wrong message to America’s children, enable drug cartels, and make our roads more dangerous.”
Still, the President’s action does not decriminalize marijuana. But conservative leaders like the late Charlie Kirk, who opposed the legalization of the drug, criticized Trump in August when he learned he was considering reclassifying it.
“I hope this doesn’t happen. We need to protect public spaces for kids. Everything already smells like weed, which is ridiculous. Let’s make it harder to ruin public spaces, not easier,” Kirk wrote in response to a Wall Street Journal report claiming Trump was considering a reclassification.
According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Kirk exposed “The Four Big Lies of the Marijuana Industry” on his show and deduced that contrary to the industry’s promises, legalization has made our communities more dangerous, increased youth use, strengthened cartels and opened a gateway to a larger drug culture.
The Star-Telegram wrote about Kirk: “He also demolished the rationale for President Joe Biden’s proposal to reclassify marijuana as a less-dangerous drug, a proposal that appears to tempt the Trump administration as well. Kirk asked: “Is this making America healthier?” As he knew, the answer is an emphatic “No.” The facts show THC, the psychoactive component in marijuana, is addictive and is causing serious psychotic conditions such as schizophrenia, particularly in young men. It promotes suicidality even in young adult users who are not depressed to begin with. Studies indicate that it is causing lung disease and multiple cancers, along with heart disease, strokes and damage to major blood vessels, regardless of how it’s ingested.”
Trump’s order would relocate marijuana from a Schedule I drug, the same category as heroin, to a Schedule III drug, the same place as ketamine. However, it does not legalize the drug, as some states have done.
“We have people begging for me to do this, people that are in great pain for decades,” Trump from the Oval Office. He added, “It doesn’t legalize marijuana in any way, shape or form, and in no way sanctions its use as a recreational drug.”
