DEA Rules to Continue Classifying Marijuana Equal to Heroin

Citing that they are "tethered to science and bound by statute", the Drug Enforcement Administration refused to reclassify marijuana, which is currently classified on the same level as heroin and peyote.

Fox 4 News reports that after review and a meeting with the Health and Human Services Department, the DEA chose to continue to classify marijuana at its usual level, saying it has no accepted medical use and has a high potential for abuse. This latest review of the drug came at the request of former governors of Rhode Island and Washington requesting that the drug be reclassified as Schedule II along with cocaine and opium.

Though it is continued to be classified as a dangerous drug, more than half of the states in the country have legalized the drug for medicinal and/or recreational use, with growing support for a national legalization of the drug.

The DEA did say it would make it easier for the studying of potential medical benefits of the drug by allowing more researchers to legally grow marijuana, which is currently limited to those at the University of Mississippi.