Many decisions should not be based solely on the influx of money. The possible reclassification of marijuana is one of those decisions.
It has been revealed that President Donald Trump is expected to reclassify cannabis as a Schedule III drug, according to the Washington Post, easing restrictions and providing a surge to the marijuana business. But economic booms should not be a determining factor when it comes to marijuana classification, especially when it comes to a product that would poison the population.
It was a disastrous idea then, and it remains a disastrous idea now. Moreover, the president already expressed the problems and, more importantly, the dangers of marijuana when he first suggested the idea of possibly rescheduling it in August.
“We’re looking at it. Some people like it, some people hate it,” Trump said at the time. “Some people hate the whole concept of marijuana because it does bad for the children, it does bad for the people that are older than children.”
The country does not need any more easily accessible substances that are “bad for the children” or “bad for the people that are older than children.”
Make America Healthy Again — sound familiar? Make America Great Again, remember? Things that are “bad for children” and people who are “older than children” do neither of these things. Reclassifying marijuana would betray those values that were supposed to be core tenets of Trump’s political platform.
As numerous recent studies have shown, nothing good typically comes from the legalization of marijuana, and, more often than not, it tends to make society worse. Rescheduling marijuana would arguably make it easier to legalize in the future. And, in addition to stealing a part of the Biden administration’s political agenda, it would be a grave disappointment and disservice to many of the president’s supporters to reschedule marijuana.
However, it’s also not a sound or logical policy. It endangers people — people who use the drug, and people caught in the wake of the destruction of those who use it. Multiple studies in recent years have linked marijuana to dangerous health conditions, including a significant increase in the “risk for heart attack and stroke,” an increase in “traffic fatality rates” in states where marijuana was legalized, and cognitive impairment.
NEW STUDY LINKS MARIJUANA USE WITH REDUCED BRAIN ACTIVITY AND POOR MEMORY
Additionally, consider research published in January 2025, just days after Trump’s second term began. In the study “Brain Function Outcomes of Recent and Lifetime Cannabis Use,” marijuana use was linked to “lower brain activation during a working memory task.”
“In this study of young adults, lifetime history of heavy cannabis use was associated with lower brain activation during a working memory task,” read the conclusion. “These findings identify negative outcomes associated with heavy lifetime cannabis use and working memory in healthy young adults that may be long lasting.”
The research found that using marijuana had an adverse effect “on brain function during working memory tasks” and also revealed that using marijuana correlated with decreased “activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, and anterior insula regions of the brain.”
There have also been studies that connect marijuana to irreversible brain damage, a loss of intelligence, an increase in psychosis after use, an increase in depression diagnoses and other mental health issues, and an increase in violent behavior after use.
Research published in the British Medical Journal revealed that those who used marijuana were “twice as likely to develop psychosis” compared to those who didn’t. Furthermore, a different study also published in BMJ discovered that 13% “of cases of schizophrenia could be averted if all cannabis use was prevented.”
Furthermore, a 2012 study in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence found that “marijuana use was associated with a doubling of domestic violence.” The research involved analysis of over 9,000 U.S. adolescents. In Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, a 2017 study of “drivers of violence” of 6,000 subjects revealed that the use of cannabis correlated with “a fivefold increase in violence.”
BELTWAY CONFIDENTIAL: WILL DEMOCRATS KNEEL IN THE ROTUNDA FOR VENEZUELAN CARTEL DRUG TRAFFICKERS?
And still another study found that people who experienced mental health incidents and used cannabis were “3.2 times more likely to commit self-harm and die of homicide — often after initiating violence — than those who weren’t.” Additionally, other research found that “the risk of perpetrating violence was more than twice as high for young adults who used marijuana.”
This isn’t making America great or healthy again. This is making America dumb, useless, impaired, and dangerous. It would be a mistake for Trump to finish what former President Joe Biden started and reclassify marijuana. It would also be sacrificing the welfare and health of the country’s citizens for profits. Trump should continue to prioritize the safety, welfare, and health of Americans, not the bank accounts of marijuana profiteers.
