A group of Democratic lawmakers is renewing pressure on the Drug Enforcement Administration to remove marijuana from its current position on a list of the most dangerous drugs, a category that includes heroin and ecstasy.

Marijuana’s classification as a “Schedule I” drug is “a main barrier” to research on its potential health benefits and conflicts with a decision by half of the states to approve medical marijuana laws, eight Democratic senators wrote this week in a letter to the DEA and the Department of Justice, its parent agency.

DEA spokesman Russ Baer said in an interview that the agency is in the “final stages” of its deliberation on the issue, and he said a decision on whether to reschedule marijuana is expected “sometime soon.”

Marijuana legalization means that bigger corporate interests and institutional capital will enter the industry and start competing with the businesses and entrepreneurs who have been at it for decades.

Federal marijuana law reform could become an official part of the national Democratic Party Platform. That’s if supporters of presidential candidate Bernie Sanders have their way.

“You want real change in this country, you want it now and are prepared to take on the political cowardice and powerful special interests which have prevented that change from happening,” Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, wrote in an email to his supporters. “One place we think the agenda of these 12 million Americans should be reflected is in the official platform of the Democratic Party.”

Ever since the Santa Monica Observer published a report earlier this week claiming a loose-lipped attorney for the U.S Drug Enforcement Administration told them that the agency is planning to downgrade the cannabis plant to a Schedule II at the beginning of August, a large majority of the stoner nation has been going on a wild and rampant social media posting tangent, spreading a misguided message that marijuana will soon be legal in all 50 states.

Failing in an effort to match the success of their Senate counterparts, House members on Tuesday watched as Republicans killed a budget amendment that would have prevented federal regulators from penalizing financial institutions that worked with legitimate marijuana businesses.

Though a Senate committee last week passed a similar amendment, House Republicans in the Rules Committee blocked any vote on the amendment proposed by Rep. Ed Perlmutter of Arvada, and Rep. Denny Heck of Washington to the Fiscal Year 2017 Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act.

The bill makes appropriations to the Treasury, the Office of the President and other agencies.

A political action committee backing recreational marijuana legalization has recently seen a stream of green, as in cash.

The Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, the pro-recreational marijuana PAC, has raised $285,500 this year, a June 11 filing with the secretary of state’s office shows. That number is nearly half of what the group raised in 2014, when the initiative to legalize recreational marijuana use first appeared on the ballot.

More than half of the 2016 fundraising total came from June 7-9, according to the filing; most of the money came from Nevada marijuana companies such as Terra Tech Corp., Greenmart Of Nevada, Medical Marijuana of Las Vegas and Paradise Wellness Center.

When NFL lineman Eugene Monroe spoke out publicly against the NFL’s ban on marijuana, it sparked a national conversation about the merits of cannabis as an alternative method of pain management for players.

“What I noticed was that former players would openly speak about their experiences being addicted to opioids that they were prescribed by their team doctors,” Monroe told Yahoo Global News Anchor Katie Couric.

Monroe, who was recently released by the Baltimore Ravens, has found an ally for his cause in Tennessee Titans linebacker Derrick Morgan.

The L.A.-based creator of the "Trump For World President" video tells us those who get the joke are the ones he made it for, and those who don't are even more amusing.

TOKYO—Japan loves Donald Trump—so much it wants to hug and kiss him—at least that’s the impression you might get from the Japan Supports Donald Trump For World President 2016 Banzai! video that has now been seen over 14 million times on Facebook and 3 million times on YouTube. 

It’s a masterpiece that looks as if it were created by Japan’s best advertising agency Dentsu (the one embroiled in a scandal over bribery and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics), but it’s actually a parody: a hilarious riff on Trump’s campaign and Japanese advertising. 

Nestled between majestic Redwoods and flanked by epic views, a dream has manifested and acts a beacon for the future of cannabis cultivation in California. Integrating leading technology with old school farming knowhow, Humboldt Integrated Cannabis has completed its first project. The fruition of a dream, the facility is the cutting edge of Humboldt’s nascent industry.