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

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.