The first major change to federal marijuana laws may be on the horizon now that it has been leaked the Biden administration intends to reschedule marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III.

Will this "seismic shift," as some media outlets have called it, legalize marijuana? What about let people out of prison? Or at least expunge records or pardon past offenders?

The answer to all of these questions is an unequivocal "no."

So what is this shift all about? Sadly, it has more to do with election-year politics than science or reason.

Many Americans are hearing about a drug's "schedule" for the first time. There are five Schedules, or classifications of controlled substances. Marijuana has been in Schedule I, the most restrictive tier, meaning it has a high potential for abuse and no accepted medical benefit. Indeed, marijuana is not an approved medical product in and of itself (though there are derivatives of the drug that have been synthesized into a doseable medication, and thus are not Schedule I). That is why so many of us scratched our heads when FDA recommended the new classification of Schedule III. As a whole plant, consumed in joints and vapes, the FDA has not approved marijuana for the treatment of any disease or condition.

Marijuana consists of hundreds of unique cannabinoids. THC is the cannabinoid that produces a "high." Beyond this, the........

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