WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Jim Risch and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) joined 20 of their Republican colleagues in sending a letter to President Donald Trump asking that marijuana remain a Schedule I drug. President Trump is expected to sign an executive order rescheduling marijuana to a Schedule III drug.

“Rescheduling marijuana to a Schedule III drug will undermine your strong efforts to Make America Great Again and to usher in America’s next economic Golden Age. The only winners from rescheduling will be bad actors such as Communist China, while Americans will be left paying the bill,” wrote the senators.

Risch and Crapo are joined by U.S. Senators Jim Banks (R-Ind.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Roger Marshall (R-Kansas), Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Dave McCormick (R-Pa.), Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), and Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.).

Marijuana is currently listed as a Schedule I drug or substance with a high potential for abuse and lacks FDA-approval. In the letter, senators outlined concerns with reclassifying marijuana to Schedule III, reserved for substances with moderate to low risk for physical and psychological dependence, including:

• The significant harm marijuana has on users, especially young people and pregnant or nursing women;
• Marijuana use causes impaired judgement, creating public safety risks on the roads and in workplaces; and
• The massive tax break marijuana companies will receive and use to market marijuana to kids.

The full letter can be read here.