Federal Judge to Rule on Whether Marijuana is Schedule I Drug

A federal judge will rule later this year on whether marijuana should continue to be classified as a Schedule I drug, alongside LSD and heroin, according to the Associated Press.

U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller agreed to consider marijuana’s drug classification under the 1970 Controlled Substances Act. She held a five-day fact-finding hearing in late 2014. Final arguments are scheduled for February. Her decision to hold the hearing was in response to a pretrial defense motion in a federal case against alleged marijuana growers, the article notes.

Schedule I drugs are defined as drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. “Schedule I drugs are the most dangerous drugs of all the drug schedules with potentially severe psychological or physical dependence,” the Drug Enforcement Administration notes on its website.

If Mueller ruled that marijuana is not a Schedule I drug, it would apply only to the defendants in the case. It would almost certainly be appealed, according to the article. If the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the law was unconstitutional, all the Western states would be affected.

Lawyers for the defendants in the case say the federal marijuana law violates the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection under the law. They argue the government enforces marijuana law unevenly by permitting marijuana to be distributed in states where it is legal, while cracking down in states where it is illegal.

Zenia K. Gilg, a lawyer for the growers, said the scientific understanding and public acceptance of marijuana have greatly increased since courts last considered the federal classification.