WASHINGTON — Some congressional Democrats said this week the Biden administration's move to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug would not stop them from pressing for further changes.

Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., heralded the development in a statement, promising to continue work on legislation to permit banking services for cannabis businesses and to remove the drug entirely from the federal drug schedule.

“It is great news that DEA is finally recognizing that restrictive and draconian cannabis laws need to change to catch up to what science and the majority of Americans have said loud and clear,” Schumer said.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said on social media Tuesday that the government for the first time “will no longer treat marijuana the same as heroin.”

“It’s a big deal. I fought hard for this common sense and historic step,” Warren said. “We need to fully legalize marijuana and begin to repair the harms of an unjust war on drugs.”

Attorney General Merrick B. Garland on Tuesday “circulated a proposal to reclassify marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III,” Xochitl Hinojosa, Justice Department director of public affairs, said in a statement Tuesday evening.

“Once published by the Federal Register, it will initiate a formal rulemaking process as prescribed by Congress in the Controlled Substances Act,” Hinojosa said.

The move was first reported Tuesday by The Associated Press and other outlets.

“About time: treating marijuana the same as heroin never made any sort of sense,” Rep. Chris Deluzio, D-Pa., posted on social media.

Some Republicans have criticized the Biden administration’s approach to marijuana, even as more and more states legalize both medical and recreational use. Wide variations in potency and teen use are also causing concerns from the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

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