Congress’ stance on medical cannabis is softening. In 2014 there was a law passed that kept federal authorities from interfering in states that allowed legal cannabis use. Before the bill passed, the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) was able to raid medical dispensaries whenever they felt the need.

Cannabis is legal on a state level, not on a federal one, and it still isn’t… yet. After this bill passed, congress received a growing number of similar proposals. Now congress is considering decriminalizing marijuana on a federal level.

As of now marijuana is legal in 26 states in one form or another. That being said, there are varying degrees of legality. Certain states only allow just the plant derived extracts, but it’s still progress. Some states only allow sale to people with a medical card, others only allow extracts prescribed by a doctor. Few actually have full recreational legality and there are limitations that come with that.

Federally, marijuana is still illegal. It’s placed in the schedule one category with many dangerous drugs such as heroine, bath salts, and methaqualone (quaaludes). These substances are described as having no accepted medical use, lack of accepted safety for use of the substance, and it has a high potential for abuse. They remain a higher priority than meth and cocaine. Is it fair for cannabis to be placed in this category?

Many people disagree with the classification of drugs that were done in the ‘70s by the DEA and FDA, and it is easy to see why. Heroine has caused over 17,000 deaths by overdose in 2015 and there has never been a recorded instance of death caused by overdose of cannabis.