ORANGEBURG, S.C. -- Hillary Rodham Clinton has long declined to endorse legalized medical or recreational marijuana at the federal level, but on Saturday she added more specifics to her proposal to increase research into medical marijuana.
Clinton said she supports removing marijuana from a list of schedule 1 drugs, a classification that prevents federally sponsored research into its effects. As a schedule 1 drug, marijuana is classified among the most dangerous drugs that the federal Drug Enforcement Agency regulates.
"We haven't done research, why? Because it's considered a schedule 1 drug," Clinton said during a town hall meeting at Claflin University in South Carolina on Saturday. "I'd like to move it from schedule 1 to schedule 2."
The addition to her position on marijuana brings her in line with two other Democratic presidential rivals, Vermont's Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, who both oppose marijuana's designation as a schedule 1 substance.
According to the Drug Enforcement Agency, schedule 1 drugs are "defined as drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. Schedule 1 drugs are the most dangerous drugs of all the drug schedules with potentially severe psychological or physical dependence."
Clinton has repeatedly said that she believes states are the "laboratories of democracy" on the marijuana issue and that she would like to see more research into the health effects of medical marijuana.
"I want to see how it works before we do a national plan for the federal government," Clinton said.
Specifically, on Saturday, she said that more information is needed to determine safe dosages, the efficacy of certain varieties, and potential complications with other drugs.
Before her announcement, Clinton's critics noted that the DEA's classification of marijuana as a schedule 1 drug makes it more difficult for research to be approved.
Clinton would also lift restrictions on obtaining marijuana for medical studies by allowing researchers to obtain the drug through licensed suppliers in states where medical marijuana is legal.
Other marijuana advocates say moving the drug to schedule 2 is not enough. Marijuana users and businesses would still risk federal penalties for using and selling the drug.
"The rescheduling of marijuana is a step in the right direction, but only going down to schedule 2 is mostly a symbolic move," said Tom Angell, chairman of the pro-marijuana group Marijuana Majority.
O'Malley also supports moving marijuana to the schedule 2 list.
Sanders said Clinton's proposal ignores the major issue and that he would give states the ability to legalize the drug by removing it from the Food and Drug Administration's list of controlled substances.
Information for this article was contributed by Lisa Lerer of The Associated Press.
A Section on 11/08/2015