--- title: Hillary Clinton Campaign Says She Would Reschedule Marijuana description: If elected, Clinton will reclassify pot from Schedule I to Schedule II under the Controlled Substances Act. canonical: https://time.com/4449322/hillary-clinton-marijuana-schedule-dea/ author: Daniel White article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-11T21:15:14.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:45:44.470Z article:section: Politics og:title: Hillary Clinton Campaign Says She Would Reschedule Marijuana og:description: Making weed easier to research og:url: https://time.com/4449322/hillary-clinton-marijuana-schedule-dea/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt51868e8db22a9f29/6988a0c72dce01c2749ea268/hillary-clinton-catholics.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Hillary Clinton og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Hillary Clinton Campaign Says She Would Reschedule Marijuana twitter:description: Making weed easier to research twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt51868e8db22a9f29/6988a0c72dce01c2749ea268/hillary-clinton-catholics.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Hillary Clinton Campaign Says She Would Reschedule Marijuana > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Aug 11, 2016 9:15 PM UTC  Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton applauds as she sits on stage at a rally at Omaha North High Magnet School in Omaha, Neb. on Aug. 1, 2016. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton applauds as she sits on stage at a rally at Omaha North High Magnet School in Omaha, Neb. on Aug. 1, 2016. Andrew Harnik—AP by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Aug 11, 2016 9:15 PM UTC Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton [plans to reschedule marijuana](http://www.thecannabist.co/2016/08/11/dea-rescheduling-marijuana-hillary-clinton/60849/) if she is elected in November, according to a statement issued by the campaign. While the Drug Enforcement Administration [denied a petition](http://time.com/4447462/marijuana-dea-schedule-i-drug/?xid=homepage) early Thursday to remove marijuana from its Schedule I list under the Controlled Substances Act, leaving the drug lumped in with heroin, LSD and other elicit substances, the Clinton campaign thinks that rescheduling the drug serves a higher purpose. “Marijuana is already being used for medical purposes in states across the country, and it has the potential for even further medical use,” Maya Harris, a senior policy advisor to Clinton’s campaign, said in a statement, reported by _The Denver Post_. “As Hillary Clinton has said throughout this campaign, we should make it easier to study marijuana so that we can better understand its potential benefits, as well as its side effects. The DEA’s decision to keep pot as a Schedule I drug affirmed the federal government’s belief that there is insufficient evidence to show that any “specific benefits” the drug might offer would outweigh any of the “known risks.” Clinton, however, seems to disagree and the campaign contended that if elected, she would reclassify the drug to a Schedule II substance, which would mean acceptance that marijuana has a medical use for treatment. “As president, Hillary will build on the important steps announced today by rescheduling marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule II substance. She will also ensure Colorado, and other states that have enacted marijuana laws, can continue to serve as laboratories of democracy,” Harris continued. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4449322/hillary-clinton-marijuana-schedule-dea/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4449322/hillary-clinton-marijuana-schedule-dea/"},"headline":"Hillary Clinton Campaign Says She Would Reschedule Marijuana","datePublished":"2016-08-11T21:15:14.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:45:44.470Z","description":"Making weed easier to research","url":"https://time.com/4449322/hillary-clinton-marijuana-schedule-dea/","keywords":["2016 Election","Hillary Clinton","Marijuana","2016 Election","Drugs","DEA"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt51868e8db22a9f29/6988a0c72dce01c2749ea268/hillary-clinton-catholics.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel White","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/daniel-white/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt51868e8db22a9f29/6988a0c72dce01c2749ea268/hillary-clinton-catholics.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Hillary Clinton","caption":"Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton applauds as she sits on stage at a rally at Omaha North High Magnet School in Omaha, Neb. on Aug. 1, 2016.","creditText":"Andrew Harnik—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4449322/hillary-clinton-marijuana-schedule-dea/","name":"Hillary Clinton Campaign Says She Would Reschedule Marijuana"}}]}] ```