Rumors about the DEA’s plans to legalize marijuana are DOA.

Rumors began spreading today that the DEA is seriously considering the legalization of marijuana. The truth is they are far from even decriminalizing it. To put it another way: Talk of the DEA legalizing marijuana is DOA.

The rumor spread after bloggers circulated a barely noticed story from last week in Bloomberg reporting that the DEA might, key work “might,” urge for the reclassification of marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug.

Quick primer: Marijuana is currently listed as a Schedule 1 drug meaning federal statutes classify it as highly addictive while providing absolutely no medical purpose.

The DEA, according to Bloomberg, has once again asked the Food And Drug Administration to conduct a thorough analysis of pot’s properties and then make a recommendation as to whether or not pot’s Schedule 1 status should be downgraded. That doesn’t mean legalization, not even decriminalization. It simply means pot could, could, be downgraded to a Schedule 2 drug.

So before everybody whips out their pipes to celebrate, it’s important to remember the FDA performed a similar analysis for the DEA back in 2001 and 2006. Both times the FDA came back with the recommendation to keep marijuana’s status as a Schedule 1.

Wishful thinking dictates that with 22 states now allowing medicinal marijuana and 2 states permitting recreational use, coupled with calls from congress to defund any DEA expenditures spent to enforce marijuana laws, the FDA could come back this time with a different recommendation. Highly doubtful.
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