Source
r/trees•
HalfAScore

A petition to reclassify Marijuana as a Schedule III drug

I'm wondering how r/trees would feel about a white house petition on changing the classification of Marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III, where it logically belongs.

If this is a good idea, I think it should be done right. We need to properly plan a well written petition so that a response shutting it down is difficult to write. I understand at this point we should still expect a big 'no' from the government, but if our petition presents a clear logical argument, the response will look even more foolish than last time.

The advantages of Marijuana being a Schedule III drug are huge. Two major points are the general public seeing the drug as less harmful furthering the chance of full legalization and the 'accepted' medical use means the DEA can no longer infringe on medical marijuana rights. These two things are definitely worth fighting for as two of the biggest stepping stones the US can take, in my opinion.

The petition would address the reasons why Marijuana should be reclassified AND BACK IT UP with well documented studies:

  • Marijuana has a lower potential for abuse than Schedule I and Schedule II drugs (such as Cocaine, Methamphetamine, and Herion). This is probably the point that I need the most help on, because I don't really understand the use of the word 'abuse' here. It seems like a point that was put into the Controlled Substance Act just to be difficult.
  • Marijuana currently has accepted medical use in the United States. This is possibly the easiest point to argue with the national cancer institute proving accepted use along with nearly 120 Million Americans representing states that believe Marijuana does have medical use. The previous petition response saying the FDA doesn't show accepted medical use is a futile argument and can be shut down easily. Possibly more information on the poor studies referenced in the previous petition response could be added.
  • Abuse of Marijuana may lead to low physical dependence but high psychological dependence. There are many studies showing this effect, and I'm sure we could find some to reference. Mainly the low physical dependence should be emphasized here.

I'm suggesting this petition because I want to see something done, and I don't think we should stop pushing the petitions and gaining more and more support just because the first petition got shot down. As well, I'm not a fan of the new petitions that sound like a little kid saying 'but jimmy gets to drink, why cant i smoke?'.

The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs could also be addressed in this petition. The case of MDMA improperly being a Schedule I drug in a similar situation to marijuana (clear medical use) could also be mentioned to bring more awareness on how the Scheduling system is clearly flawed.

This is just that basis of an idea that needs work, I'd really appreciate any suggestions and ideas for the petition so it is as well written as can be.

Posted Nov 7, 2011, 5:38 AM UTC · edited

115
iamthewillrus•

you should repost this in the afternoon so people see it. I support the idea btw. and all it would take to do this is Obama signing an executive order

2
HalfAScoreOP•

Yeah, what I would like to see most is ideas from r/trees and help finding good studies to reference. But i guess 1 AM EST might not be the best time to do that.

I'll look into reposting it tuesday afternoon, assuming this doesn't pick up at all.

Or possibly friday, my cakeday

1
themaverick21•

You want cannabis legalized? The first step is here:

http://www.reddit.com/r/trees/comments/m6hur/im_tired_of_signing_petitions_lets_make_a_council/

1
HalfAScoreOP•

You sound really passionate about legalization, and that is a great thing, but your idea has some serious flaws in becoming a reality.

The least of your problems is you seem to overestimate r/trees political influence. Yes, it is a growing community and is providing more and more power, but it is still just 130k users (dead or double accounts = less people), many of whom are underage or not US citizens, who like the idea of marijuana.

The much bigger problem is that though you have a great political layout in a way that seems to take some ideas from the US legislative branch, you're putting people in these committes that have no qualifications. You're talking about just a bunch of probably young adults sitting around discussing huge economic, political, and possibly military scenarios.

While the idea, at heart, is a great one, in reality it doesn't really play out. However, I'm sure if Marijuana was legal, there would be a rather large house committee, dedicated to it that would have a similar aspect to your idea, just with qualified (or not so qualified...) politicians.

These is a decent length response, but I don't have time to give you my full opinion right now, sorry.

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themaverick21•

I understand our sever lack of political influence, but I acknowledge that that's not something I have the power to do much about at the moment. I also understand that not every ent on here is able to/will help, but the way I saw, and still see it, even if we only rally a small number of people, that's still a group of people who are ready and willing and capable of making differences.

You've completely got me on the lack of qualifications, however. To my knowledge there are not really any specifically qualified ents on here, but again, this could just be a starting point. The way I see it, if we can get this to take off enough to get a group of us that are focused and willing to make an effort, we can figure out the issues, think about them, and take small steps. As I see it, this is by no means a short term plan; but we can use those interested as a think tank, and unleash the results of the think tank on the small scale political groups. I'm sure between all active redditors in trees, we have SOME level of networking capability at our disposal.

i appreciate your abridged opinion. the more people that put their opinions out there, the better. that's how weakness are exposed, and improved upon. thank you!

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