The move to reschedule marijuana comes amid a huge shift in public opinion and acceptance over its use.

A Gallup poll conducted last year, for example, found that 70% of US adults support legalisation, compared to just 30% in 2000.

"It's all about public perception," Dr Hart said. "It's public perception, not reality, that drives what we arrest people for."

The reclassification proposal also comes less than two years after US President Joe Biden called for a review of federal marijuana laws and pardoned thousands of US marijuana users convicted of "simple possession" under federal law.

"Criminal records for marijuana use and possession have imposed needless barriers to employment, housing, and educational opportunities," Mr Biden said last year. "Too many lives have been upended because of our failed approach to marijuana. It's time that we right these wrongs."

Last week, 21 Democratic lawmakers also sent a letter urging the DEA and Attorney General Merrick Garland to drop marijuana from its list of controlled-substances entirely and instead treat it like alcohol.

"It is time for the DEA to act," the letter said. "Right now, the Administration has the opportunity to resolve more than 50 years of failed, racially discriminatory marijuana policy."