If cannabis gets rescheduled to III, how can it ever get the state - federal differences resolved when it comes to the recreational market?
The feds will still go after it as an illegal drug when presented as recreational and the will keep the stigma going on forever. Furthermore it will keep a lot of talented people out of good job opportunities for smoking a joint after work instead of having a glass of wine.
Progress in government is made in steps. Scheduling to 3 allows research. Research that will show it's no worse than alcohol. Then we push for removal from the schedule.
Also, are there any studies supporting it being banned? As I understand it, it was a PR campaign and moral panic that lead to its ban on the first place, not anything rational.
The research at the time said not to ban it because it is reasonably safe for consumption and banning it would cause social unrest and distrust of the government. Check out "A Signal of Misunderstanding: The First Report of the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse", a report from a commission created by Richard Nixon with the passage of the 1969 Narcotics Act.
I wish I could agree that we need studies to convince our rational leaders in government to make the rational actions based on available evidence, because that's what drives changes in government.
The best way to remove it from the schedule is to dismantle prison slave labor. Financial incentives for imprisoning people will always lead here and are immoral. However, I offer a false solution, because I don't have a way to implement it.