Opinion: Here’s why marijuana should not be reclassified as a lower-risk drug

Editor’s Note: Michael Brown is the global director of counter-narcotics technology at Rigaku Analytical Devices. His career as a special agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) spanned more than 32 years and saw him involved in the interdiction of multi-ton amounts of marijuana in the United States and overseas. Most recently he was the DEA Headquarters staff coordinator for the Office of Foreign Operations for the Middle East-Europe-Afghanistan-India. The views expressed in this commentary are his own. Read more opinion at CNN.

The Biden administration is moving toward reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug, which will foreseeably embolden Mexican cartels and Chinese legal growing operations to generate millions in profit while creating greater strains on law enforcement and increasing health-related risks, from severe depression to impairing psychosis.

The Justice Department moved forward last month with the rulemaking process to reclassify marijuana from a Schedule I drug, which includes substances with high potential for abuse such as heroin, to a Schedule III drug, which is defined as having “moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence” and includes substances such as testosterone and Tylenol with codeine.

If it is approved, marijuana will still be regulated, but the rules would not be as strict as they are now. Currently, medical marijuana is legal in 38 US states, and recreational use is legal in 24 states. These state laws have led to the growth of a $30 billion industry.

The federal reclassification of marijuana would most likely be popular among many people who support the open use of marijuana, especially young people.

However, popularity doesn’t mean the product is safe: The Department of Health and Human Services recommended the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) reclassification, but there are inescapable health risks associated with regular marijuana use including a higher risk of stroke and heart attacks; negative impacts on attention, memory and learning in young people; an increased risk of developing schizophrenia; and harm to fetal brain development.

The number of daily marijuana users is now higher than the number of people who consume alcohol daily. While alcohol can also be abused (as regulations on sale and consumption reflect), there is increasing evidence from serious long-term effects of high-potency THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, the primary psychoactive ingredient in the cannabis plant) marijuana use such as cardiac and lung problems.

Health concerns, especially among the African American population, are reason enough to object to the reclassification of marijuana as a Schedule III drug. Unfortunately, many people are choosing the grandiosity effect of smoking weed over the established health risks.

A big business opportunity for cartels

Proponents of open domestic marijuana markets say that allowing the growth and sale of marijuana and associated products in the United States promises to raise more taxes and impair Mexican cartels that have been smuggling the drug into America for years. In fiscal year 2023, marijuana outpaced all other types of drugs seized by US Customs and Border Protection.

Instead of being hamstrung by a new marijuana rule, however, the cartels will adapt their business strategy to take advantage of the rule and use it to make more money, which they will in turn use to fund the spread of deadly narcotics such as fentanyl.

Based on my 32 years of experience dealing with narcotics domestically and internationally, it is clear to me that the cartels will simply continue to adapt and evolve around new federal regulations, ensuring that their profit margins continue to increase.

The cartels already have numerous illegal marijuana-growing operations on the West Coast of the US that are undercutting the legal cannabis market and have been doing so for a while. As cannabis becomes more in demand, the illicit market would also increase to meet what I believe will be a cannabis gold rush.

Based on historical actions of the cartels, it can be anticipated that they will establish front companies and invest in legal marijuana farming in states where it is legal to grow and sell marijuana, such as California and Maine, while simultaneously increasing their illegal production.

Marijuana sales are mostly cash-based, but rescheduling the drug will open the door to numerous legal and illegal cryptocurrency accounts and provide federal banking access to the new millions in profits being generated. This will enable the cartels to launder millions in untraceable cash, making it harder to regulate the industry. The cartels are already capitalizing on the crypto market to launder the proceeds of their fentanyl sales; they would most likely reinvest legal profits from marijuana sales back into their cocaine, heroin and fentanyl operations.

These profits will enable cartels to procure from countries such as China more precursor chemicals needed to make synthetic drugs, which will be exported to Mexican cartels’ clandestine laboratories to be turned into fentanyl or methamphetamine before being smuggled into America.

The production, smuggling and sale of dangerous and more profitable narcotics into America is an expensive but lucrative business. Costs incurred in this addiction supply chain include paying for and transporting the precursor chemicals, producing the narcotics, hiring smugglers to transport the contraband into America, potentially bribing officials on both sides of the border, distributing drugs inside the US and fueling inner-city violence as drug markets expand. They also must pay protection teams to look after their product and the cash profits.

Reclassifying marijuana means that instead of risking losing vast amounts of product or cash to law enforcement operations, cartels would have greater opportunities to openly transfer money in and out of the country as law enforcement operations will increasingly be redirected to other issues seen as more pressing.

Moreover, profits from marijuana sales will be used to support the supply chains for other cartel businesses, including human trafficking and sex trafficking. It will also give them safe operational bases within the country because their growing facilities will be viewed as legitimate businesses and thus attract less attention from officials. This also reduces some of their supply chain costs — it’s a winning strategy for the cartels.

International and local investments

The Mexican cartels would not be the only beneficiaries of cannabis trading under the proposed DEA reclassification.

Chinese companies — potentially backed by their government — are already heavily invested in cannabis production in America, controlling most of the illegal marijuana farms. A less-restricted market will allow them to expand rapidly throughout the country. Additionally, from what I’ve seen, the number of smaller cash-based businesses run by Chinese nationals in the US could potentially provide an additional money laundering route for any organization’s illegal production.

A license to produce marijuana can be very expensive, favoring organizations with the resources to start large cannabis facilities. If marijuana is reclassified and fees to legally operate remain high, more smaller growers will likely appear and operate illegally, especially indoor farms, which will add to the amount of illegal cannabis and related products available.

Chinese-owned cannabis farms in the US have been found to be staffed by undocumented Chinese immigrants. This is a form of human trafficking that results in indentured labor at slave wages, with the migrants too afraid to complain or seek help from authorities. And naturally, with human trafficking comes sex trafficking and drug abuse, further exacerbating problems for at-risk workers and law enforcement in the surrounding communities.

The impact on law enforcement

From a law enforcement perspective, while the number of people being arrested for personal possession of marijuana has been declining over the years, the pressure on law enforcement is likely to increase if marijuana is reclassified.

Cannabis plantations are likely to spread beyond the historic marijuana-growing region in California called the Emerald Triangle (Humboldt, Trinity and Mendocino counties). The spread of growing operations to new or underdeveloped areas will make it a national law enforcement issue to find unlawful growers and distributors who supply unregulated products.

Police departments will also face the risks to officers associated with addressing the increase in human trafficking and, of course, the dangers of challenging drug dealers, users and distributors. Marijuana may not be as dangerous to the user as fentanyl, but the cartels will remain brutal and violent in their quest for profit.

These enforcement concerns intersect with the documented health effects of marijuana use. Officers will likely be called on to respond to a growing number of domestic mental health calls due to cannabis-induced psychosis, particularly as consumers demand higher-potency products. (And given that 1 in 5 people fatally shot by police suffer from mental illness, these calls could possibly result in more fatal shootings, especially among communities of color.) Those predisposed to psychoses and schizophrenia may succumb to uncontrolled hallucinations and irrational behaviors as a result of using marijuana with a high percentage of THC.

American citizens will also feel the impact of more marijuana flooding the market on the streets and highways of their hometowns. We already see about 37 fatalities per day due to drunk driving. Imagine how this number of needless deaths will increase when more people are impaired by marijuana and can’t concentrate or react in time, or if they hallucinate while behind the wheel.

Opening the market to the production and sale of marijuana in all its forms will result in an ever-expanding usage problem for society. Those who don’t smoke may try it because it is supposedly safe and readily available, those who partake irregularly may become regular users and this supposedly harmless, feel-good substance will spread like wildfire, especially in the poorest communities that can least afford the drug itself or afford the consequences.

Components of marijuana, such as CBD (cannabidiol) and THC, have medical uses, such as pain relief, preventing seizures and more — when professionally manufactured and used under medical supervision. It is not, however, safe for general, regular consumption, especially if there are relaxed regulations allowing for legal sale of stronger products.

We all aspire to live in a progressive society where peace and safety prevail. However, this can only be achieved by safeguarding the vulnerable and less educated from the destructive operations of cartels who prioritize profits over ethics. Despite the allure of tax revenues or how well a reclassification of marijuana may score in a poll, those making the rules must not allow unrestricted and unopposed cartel activities that aim to harm the fabric of our society.