WASHINGTON (AP) – The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is moving toward reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug. The Justice Department’s proposal would recognize the medical uses of cannabis but wouldn’t legalize it for recreational use.

The proposal would move marijuana from “Schedule I” to the less tightly regulated “Schedule III.”

So what does this mean and what are its consequences?

What actually modified? What happens next?

Technically nothing yet. The proposal should be reviewed by the White House Office of Management and Budget after which subjected to public discussion and review by an administrative judge, a potentially lengthy process.

Still, the shift is taken into account a “paradigm shift and is very exciting,” Vince Sliwoski, a cannabis and psychedelics lawyer in Portland, Oregon, who runs outstanding legal blogs on these topics, told The Associated Press when the federal Health and Wellness Commission Department of Social Services advisable the change.

“I can’t emphasize enough how important this news is,” he said.

This got here after President Joe Biden last 12 months asked each HHS and the attorney general, which oversees the DEA, to review marijuana classification. Schedule Legally, I put it on par with heroin, LSD, quaalude, and ecstasy, amongst others.

Biden, a Democrat, supports legalizing medical marijuana for use “where appropriate, consistent with medical and scientific evidence,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Thursday. “That is why it is important that this independent review passes.”

If marijuana is reclassified, will it legalize recreational marijuana nationwide?

NO. Schedule III drugs – which include ketamine, anabolic steroids and a few combos of acetaminophen and codeine – are still controlled substances.

They are subject to varied laws that allow for certain medical uses and federal criminal prosecution of anyone who deals drugs and not using a license.

No changes are expected to medical marijuana programs currently licensed in 38 states or to legal recreational marijuana markets in 23 states, but they’re unlikely to satisfy federal requirements for production, recordkeeping, prescribing and other requirements for Scheduled drugs III.

There have not been many federal prosecutions for easy marijuana possession in recent times, even under marijuana’s current Schedule I status, but the reclassification would don’t have any direct impact on people already involved in the criminal justice system.

“Put simply, this move from Schedule I to Schedule III is not going to get people out of jail,” said David Culver, senior vp of public affairs at the U.S. Cannabis Board.

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However, the rescheduling itself would have some impact, particularly on research and marijuana taxes.

What would this mean for research?

Because marijuana is a Schedule I drug, it has been very difficult to conduct authorized clinical trials involving the administration of the drug. This has created something of a catch-22: requiring further research, but making it harder. (Researchers sometimes depend on people’s own reports of marijuana use.)

Schedule III drugs are easier to check, although changing the classification won’t immediately reverse all barriers to testing, Culver said.

What about taxes (and banking)?

Under the federal tax code, businesses that “trade” marijuana or another Schedule I or II drug cannot deduct rent, payroll, or various other expenses that other businesses can write off. (Yes, a minimum of some cannabis businesses, especially state-licensed ones, pay taxes to the federal government despite its marijuana prohibition). Industry groups say the tax rate often tops out at 70% or higher.

The deduction rule doesn’t apply to Schedule III drugs, so the proposed change would significantly reduce taxes on cannabis firms.

They say it might treat them like other industries and help them compete with illegal competitors that frustrate licensees and officials in places like New York.

“That’s how you strengthen these state legal programs,” says Adam Goers, director of medical and recreational marijuana giant Columbia Care. He co-leads a coalition of corporations and other players that’s pushing for the schedule change.

It could also mean more promotion and promoting of cannabis if those costs could possibly be deducted, based on Beau Kilmer, co-director of the RAND Drug Policy Center.

The rescheduling would don’t have any direct impact on one other marijuana business issue: difficulty accessing banks, particularly for loans, as federally regulated institutions fear the drug’s legal status. Instead, the industry sought a measure called the SAFE Banking Act. It passed the House multiple times but stalled in the Senate.

Are there critics? What are they saying?

They do exist, including the national anti-legalization group Smart Approaches to Marijuana. President Kevin Sabet, a former Obama administration drug policy official, said the HHS suggestion “contradicts science, reeks of politics” and is a regrettable nod to an industry “desperate for legitimacy.”

Some legalization advocates say the marijuana reschedule is just too gradual. They wish to deal with removing it completely from the list of controlled substances, which doesn’t include items like alcohol or tobacco (they’re regulated, but they usually are not the same).

Paul Armentano, deputy director of the National Marijuana Law Reform Organization, said simply reclassifying marijuana would “perpetuate the existing divide between state and federal marijuana policy.” Minority Cannabis Business Association President Kaliko Castille said she would only postpone the “rebranding ban,” relatively than giving full clarity to state licensees and definitively ending a long time of arrests that disproportionately attracted people of color.

“Schedule III will leave it in this amorphous, dirty middle where people won’t understand the danger that it will still be illegal at the federal level,” he said.

The family of a black teenager who was shot by a white homeowner when he mistakenly went to the wrong address in Kansas City, Missouri, filed a lawsuit on Monday that the family’s lawyer described as an try to pressure a criminal trial later this 12 months.

The grievance, filed by Cleo Nagbe on behalf of her son Ralph Yarl, alleges that 84-year-old Andrew Lester was negligent when he shot the 16-year-old abruptly greater than a 12 months ago on April 13. suffered and sustained everlasting injuries, pain and suffering as a direct result of Lester’s actions.

Lee Merritt, the family’s attorney, said the civil suit is intended to “give the family a chance to take the reins in seeking justice for Ralph” as the state’s criminal case against Lester unfolds.

Lester pleaded not guilty in September 2023. The trial was scheduled to start over a 12 months later, on October 7, 2024.

Lester’s criminal attorney, Steve Salmon, said he was reviewing the civil grievance and would discuss it with Lester. At a preliminary hearing in the criminal case, he said Lester acted in self-defense, terrified of a stranger who knocked on his door as he went to bed for the night.

“The lawsuit is based on what he said,” Merritt told The Associated Press. “If he says, ‘I made a mistake in mistaking this person for a robber,’ we say it is negligence. You weren’t paying enough attention. Anyone who rings your doorbell cannot be a thief.”

Yarl got the name of the house he was sent to choose up his siblings wrong. Yarl testified at trial that he rang the doorbell after which reached for the storm door as Lester opened the interior door. Lester told him, ‘Don’t you ever come here again,'” Yarl recalled.

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He said he was shot in the head, the force of the impact knocked him to the ground, after which he was shot in the arm.

The case, which has drawn international attention, has reignited national debates over gun policy and race in America.

In a statement, Nagbe said the shooting “not only shattered our family, but also exposed a critical gap in our social fabric where reckless actions threaten the safety of our children.”

The lawsuit also names the homeowner’s association, Highland Acres Homes Association, Inc., as a defendant. The association didn’t immediately reply to an email searching for comment.

Merritt said the family was aware that court proceedings may very well be delayed until the criminal case was resolved, but desired to proceed with the trial anyway. He cited a state law that permits a victim to access the files of a criminal case that has not yet been accomplished because the prosecutor asks the judge for clarification on the order to stay silent in the case.

Merritt said Yarl was “extremely resilient” after the shooting, but “his resilience kind of turned into impatience with being the person who got shot a year ago.”

“He doesn’t want to be that person,” Merritt said. “I want to be an amazing musician in a band, a good friend, a student, a rising student.”

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Police departments across the U.S. are reporting an increase in officer numbers for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic and the 2020 killing of George Floyd, which a study shows led to a historic exodus of officers.

According to 214 law enforcement agencies that responded to a survey conducted by the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), more sworn officers were hired in 2023 than in any of the previous 4 years, and fewer officers resigned or retired overall.

Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police officers sparked nationwide protests against police brutality and increased scrutiny of law enforcement.

As more officers left, many departments needed to reallocate strained resources, taking them away from investigative work or coping with quality-of-life issues equivalent to abandoned vehicles or noise violations, to deal with the rise in crime, and in some cases, shortages meant slower work. police officers claim that response times are reduced or limited to responding only to emergencies.

“I just think the last four years have been particularly difficult for American policing,” said Chuck Wexler, executive director of PERF, a nonprofit police think tank based in Washington. “And our study shows that we are finally starting to turn into a corner.”

However, in line with Wexler, individual departments are recovering at different rates, noting that many still struggle to draw and retain officers.

Overall, the career “isn’t completely eliminated yet,” he said.

The Associated Press left phone and email messages with several unions and police departments asking about hiring increases.

The study shows that while there have been more sworn officers in small and medium-sized departments than in January 2020, staffing levels in large departments are still greater than 5% below their employment levels then, even with year-over-year increases in 2022– 2023.

The study also found that smaller departments with fewer than 50 officers proceed to face higher attrition and retirement rates.

Wexler said the survey only asked about numbers, so it’s hard to say whether these officers are leaving for larger departments or leaving the career altogether. He also found that smaller departments, which make up 80% of agencies nationwide, were underrepresented in the responses PERF received.

Many larger departments have raised officer pay or began offering incentives equivalent to signing bonuses for knowledgeable officers who’re willing to transfer, something smaller departments cannot really compete with. At least a dozen smaller departments have disbanded, leaving the municipalities they once served counting on state or county police for help.

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However, even some of the highest-paid large departments still struggle to draw latest employees.

“I don’t think it’s all about money. “I think it’s about how people view their work and feel like they’re going to be supported,” Wexler said. “You have departments on the West Coast that are paying six-figure sums but still see significant hiring challenges.”

In addition to salaries and bonuses, many agencies are re-examining their application requirements and recruitment processes.

Wexler believes some of these changes make sense, equivalent to allowing visible tattoos, reconsidering the importance of past financial problems and faster background checks for applicants. However, he warned that PERF doesn’t support lowering training or candidate standards.

Maria “Maki” Haberfeld, chair of the Department of Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, says departments have focused an excessive amount of on officer numbers. He worries that some are lowering educational requirements and other standards to increase the number of officers, relatively than trying to search out the best people to police their communities.

“Policing is a real profession that requires more skill and more education than people can understand,” she said. “It’s not about tattoos or running a mile in quarter-hour. “It’s really more about emotional intelligence, maturity and split-second decision-making without the use of lethal force.”

Haberfeld also cautioned that any personnel gains made through incentives could easily be erased, especially since officers, including some in combat gear, were seen breaking up protests against the war between Israel and Hamas at universities across the country.

“In policing, it takes decades to move forward and a split second for public attitudes to deteriorate,” she said.

The PERF study showed an overall decline in layoffs of greater than 20%, from a high of almost 6,500 in 2022 to fewer than 5,100 in 2023. However, they’re still higher than levels at the starting of the pandemic in 2020, when several greater than 4,000 officers resigned in all corresponding departments.

As with employment growth, the rate of decline in retirements tended to depend upon department size. In 2023, fewer people retired in large departments than in 2019, barely more retired in medium-sized departments, and increased salaries in small departments. The study found a sharp decline in resignations in large agencies with 250 or more employees and in mid-sized agencies with 50 to 249 officers.

In addition to increases in pay and advantages, improved retention could be partly attributed to a change in the way some public officials view their public safety departments, Wexler says.

“It was only a few years ago that we moved from public discourse about defunding the police to public officials realizing that their employees were leaving,” he said. “I don’t think there’s any doubt that there’s been a radical change among political leadership.”