(Picture: REUTERS)
President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that would reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug and open new avenues for medical research.
The move is a major shift in federal drug policy and comes on the eve of the Epstein Files deadline and minutes after a tranche of new photos were released.
The switch would move marijuana away from its current classification as a Schedule I drug, alongside heroin and LSD.
Cannabis would instead be a Schedule III substance, like ketamine and some anabolic steroids.
Reclassification by the Drug Enforcement Administration would not make it legal for recreational use by adults nationwide, but it could change how the drug is regulated and reduce a hefty tax burden on the cannabis industry.
Does anyone oppose reclassifying marijuana?
Led by North Carolina senator Ted Budd, the group argued that marijuana continues to be dangerous and that a shift would ‘undermine your strong efforts to Make America Great Again’.
They argued, too, that marijuana negatively affects users’ physical and mental health, as well as road and workplace safety.
‘The only winners from rescheduling will be bad actors such as Communist China, while Americans will be left paying the bill,’ the letter said, referring to China’s place in the cannabis market.
As for decriminalising marijuana, Mr Trump has not previously committed to such a move, though he had considered reclassifying it for much of his second term. He once said as a candidate that it should remain a state-by-state issue.
As president, he has made his crusade against other drugs, especially fentanyl, a feature of his second term, ordering US military attacks on Venezuelan and other boats the administration insists are ferrying drugs.
He signed another executive order declaring fentanyl a weapon of mass destruction.
It came as the military says it attacked a boat accused of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing four people.
Trump-Kennedy Center
The executive order came as it was revealed Trump’s handpicked board of the Kennedy Center would rename the memorial to JFK the Trump Kennedy Center.
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced the vote on social media, attributing it to the ‘unbelievable work President Trump has done over the last year in saving the building. Not only from the standpoint of its reconstruction, but also financially, and its reputation.’
Trump, a Republican who’s chairman of the board, said at the White House that he was ‘surprised’ and ‘honored’ by the vote.
‘The board is a very distinguished board, most distinguished people in the country and I was surprised by it and I was honoured by it,’ he said.
After taking office earlier this year, he fired board members who had been appointed by his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden, and replaced them with Republican allies. The board then elected Trump as chairman.
The move won’t sit well with some Kennedys.
Maria Shriver, a niece of John F. Kennedy, referred to the potential rebrand as ‘insane’ in a social media post in July.
‘It makes my blood boil. It’s so ridiculous, so petty, so small minded,” she wrote.
‘Truly, what is this about? It’s always about something. “Let’s get rid of the Rose Garden. Let’s rename the Kennedy Center.” What’s next?’
Trump earlier this year turned the Kennedy-era Rose Garden at the White House into a patio by removing the lawn and laying down paving stones.
Another Kennedy family member, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., serves in Trump’s Cabinet as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Transgender advocates condemn new Trump restrictions on care
Advocates of transgender care for children are strongly condemning proposals from the Trump administration to cut off funding for gender-affirming treatments.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy and other Trump officials announced the measures Thursday, referring to transgender care as ‘sex-rejecting procedures’ and ‘malpractice.’
Doctors who offer the care—including medication and surgery—said the changes would put lives at risk.
‘The Trump Administration is forcing health care systems to choose between providing lifesaving care for LGBTQ+ young people and accepting crucial federal funding,’ Dr Jamila Perritt, CEO of Physicians for Reproductive Health said.
Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen of The Trevor Project, a nonprofit suicide prevention organisation, called the changes a ‘one-size-fits-all mandate from the federal government.’