US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday reclassifying marijuana from a Schedule I (most dangerous, comprising heroin, LSD and ecstasy) to a Schedule III (comprising prescription painkillers like hydrocodone) drug. This is a major milestone in a decades-long push to decriminalise and eventually legalise cannabis, undo the damage done by the war on drugs, and move toward a narcotics regulatory framework that focuses on public health and treatment over enforcement and interdiction. War on drugs The Controlled Substances Act (CSA) of 1970 placed all regulated substances into one of five schedules, based on their medical use, potential for abuse, and safety or dependence liability. The Act was introduced at a time when there was mounting alarm in the US over drugs and drug-related crime, particularly in the wake of thousands of Vietnam veterans returning stateside with severe heroin and amphetamine addictions. Cannabis had already been heavily regulated as a part of 1930s prohibitionist push, but the CSA put it in the same class of drugs as heroin or LSD, despite cannabis not …