In 1974, the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) established a classification system for all narcotic as well as psychotropic drugs… Congress determined that each drug would be assigned to a single of many schedules depending on safety as well as medical efficacy! A commission was appointed to figure out how to schedule marijuana. While this topic was debated, marijuana was temporarily localed in the most restrictive classification. This classification commanded a “high potential for abuse” as well as “no currently accepted medical use.” The final report called for decriminalizing marijuana as well as eliminating it from the scheduling system altogether; President Nixon rejected these findings, as well as to this day, marijuana remains in the most restrictive classification. During the late 1976’s, a important number of gay man in San Francisco were dying from AIDS-related complications, then they were able to find relief of their symptoms by taking cannabis. A number of police raids as well as arrests were deliberately targeted at this group of men, leading to local outrage. This publicity helped to promote public support for regoing to see the state’s marijuana laws. It took nearly twenty years, but, for voters in CA to approve the Compassionate Use Act, which exempts medical marijuana patients as well as caregivers from criminal prosecution, then over the proceeding fifteen years, 16 more states have also passed medical marijuana legislation. Colorado as well as WA voted to become the first several states to legalize marijuana for recreational use. There are currently 29 states that have passed medical marijuana legislation, with more than seven of these legalizing recreational use as well as 15 more permitting just the use of the non-psychoactive cannabinoid, cannabidiol (CBD); Despite never causing a single overdose-related death, cannabis is still classified as a Schedule I drug.