About half of US states have legalized recreational cannabis, but studying it is still very tricky business.

When we first started thinking about doing cannabis research, we thought we're going to

bring people into the lab and give them different products and see what happens.

And we very quickly learned that it turns out that is illegal.

It's Monday, May 28th, and this is Science Friday.

I'm Cyfride producer Rasha Arredi.

Earlier this month, the Department of Justice proposed that cannabis should be changed from Schedule 1 to Schedule 3,

knocking it down a couple of pegs in the hierarchy of restricted drugs.

So could this affect how scientists research cannabis?

Sci-Fi Digital Producer Emma Gomez and I dug into this question.

The Department of Justice is moving to reclassify cannabis as a less dangerous drug under the Controlled Substances Act.

Although if you ask my dad, he would probably say they should make an entirely new, even more dangerous category for weed. Anyway, cannabis is legal in some form or another in over half of the US, including where I live in New York.

And where I live in Washington, D.C.

But federally, it's illegal and considered a Schedule 1 substance,

meaning that the Drug Enforcement Agency or the DEA

says that it has no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.

In this category alongside cannabis are drugs like heroin and ecstasy.

But if this plan goes through, cannabis will drop down to a Schedule 3 drug, putting it on the same level as drugs like ketamine and some steroids.

The DEA says drugs in this category have a moderate to low potential for dependence.

And it's kind of set the cannabis industry a buzz.

To my parents listening, this change will not affect me nor my esteemed colleague Russia. We would never consider

doing anything federally illegal even if it is legal in my state, right Russia?

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