Saying Americans should have more access to medical marijuana, President Donald Trump on Thursday ordered his attorney general to take steps toward reclassifying the drug as less dangerous.
If Trump’s administration completes all the steps to move marijuana from “schedule I” where it’s now categorized to “schedule III,” it would start a 30-day clock for Wyoming to either do the same, or to give a reason why it won’t.
Schedule I is a federal classification for drugs that have no currently accepted medical use in the United States and have a high potential for abuse.
Schedule III, where Trump seeks to list marijuana, is a classification for drugs with less potential for abuse, “moderate or low physical dependance or high psychological dependence,” and currently accepted medical uses.
“Decades of Federal drug control policy have neglected marijuana’s medical uses,” says the executive order, which asserts that the nation’s tougher classification of marijuana has impeded research and limited Americans’ health care options.
Tick Tock
If the Trump administration completes the reschedule, Wyoming Attorney General Keith Kautz will have no more than 30 days to match Wyoming’s drug lists to it or announce why he won’t.
That’s according to state statute 35-7-1011 (d).
If the state’s commissioner of drugs and substances control, who is also the state attorney general, objects to matching the federal government’s drug categories then he must “publish the reason for objection” and give all interested parties a chance to discuss it at a hearing.
After the hearing, the AG “shall” publish his decision, and it will be final — unless the legislature changes it by changing state law.
Kautz did not voice a strong opinion on marijuana in his interview on Thursday.
He noted, however, that Wyoming doesn’t have legal framework for prescribing the drug.
“I’m just going to follow the statute,” he said. “And I already (noted) that our state has been reluctant to go the route of medical marijuana.”
Meanwhile, Wyoming’s Fed
Meanwhile, the top federal prosecutor in Wyoming announced on Sept. 29 that marijuana offenses in federal jurisdictions in the state “will now be rigorously prosecuted.”
That’s after Trump’s U.S. Department of Justice rescinded Biden-era guidance shunning the prosecution of simple marijuana possession.
Interim U.S. Attorney Darin Smith emphasized at the time that marijuana possession is still a federal crime.
He reiterated that point in a statement his office sent Thursday.
“Possession, use and distribution of marijuana remains a federal crime,” said Smith. “As such, the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Wyoming will continue to use every prosecutorial tool available to hold offenders accountable.”
Smith’s office noted that rescheduling the drug could change some federal penalties, “but we are waiting for guidance.”
Trump’s memo rescinding Biden-era prosecution guidance hasn’t changed, the statement adds.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
