Federal judge won't take marijuana off the list of most dangerous drugs

last updated 16 April 2015

On Wednesday, a federal judge in Sacramento upheld the constitutionality of a 1970 federal law classifying marijuana as a dangerous drug on the same level as heroin, saying it is up to Congress to determine whether it should be reclassified.

U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller was the first judge in decades to examine marijuana's inclusion on the list, the Los Angeles Times reports. She held a five-day hearing on the matter last year, in response to a pretrial defense motion in a case pitting the federal government against alleged marijuana growers.

Mueller's decision cannot be appealed until the criminal case against the alleged growers is closed, but some pro-marijuana groups are just happy that the judge held the hearing at all. "We applaud Judge Mueller for having the courage to hear this issue and provide it the careful consideration it deserves,” Paul Armentano, deputy director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), told the Times. "While we are disappointed with this ruling, it changes little. We always felt this had to ultimately be decided by the 9th Circuit, and we have an unprecedented record for the court to consider."

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Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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