Cannabis and the U.S. Controlled Substances Act

The scheduling of cannabis under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) has established legal precedents that determine how scientific evidence affects its regulation in the United States. This background challenges three common fallacies that make it seem marijuana prohibition is the only viable policy outcome. A contemporary effort to reschedule cannabis is based on recent findings that have established that marijuana lacks the high potential for abuse required for Schedule I or Schedule II status under the CSA. The primary policy issue is not, then, whether marijuana is the best medicine but instead whether people who use it medically should be treated as criminals. [Article copies available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-342-9678. E-mail address: Website: 2001 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.]