Despite the fact that the DEA regards weed as a drug of negligible concern will less than five percent of law enforcement officials who participated in the agency’s annual assessment summary saying pot was a worrisome issue for them, cannabis remains illegal for all purposes under federal law.

Having admitted that marijuana is not a dangerous drug nor does it cause alarm to law enforcement or the population at large, the DEA continues to insist that an herb—which has not killed or harmed anyone—must remain a Schedule 1 drug, in the same category as heroin.

The recently released DEA summary indeed devotes more time to pot-bashing than warnings about prescription painkillers, which killed more than 20,000 people last year and is responsible for runaway addiction rates.

The best part of the DEA’s 200-page National Drug Threat Assessment, the Washington Post pointed out, is the astounding claim that the media is to blame for spreading inaccurate information about the legality and effects of marijuana use. Really?

And apparently, this so-called “media attention” is making it more difficult for law enforcement to arrest and prosecute offenders. Again…really?

Last we checked, pot arrests and prosecution has not significantly dropped since the recent legalization spree took over the country and, supposedly, the media.

Even with many states continuing to reform, legalize and ease medical and recreational pot use, enforcement has apparently hardened. Nearly 701,000 people were arrested in 2014 for marijuana-related offenses, which means roughly one arrest for pot occurred every 45 seconds, according to the FBI, not the liberal media.

And, while we’re on the subject, nearly 90 percent of all marijuana arrests in 2014 were attributed solely to possession, says the American Civil Liberties Union.

For obvious reason, it is possible to run into confusion from state to state regarding laws, which are rarely straightforward. Medical cannabis, recreational weed, who can grow, who can smoke and where, who can sell, do I need a license, does my illness qualify for MMJ and which state are we in anyhow?

Suggestion to the DEA—reschedule marijuana. Place it into the category where it actually belongs, so that people don’t get sent to jail and have their lives and futures ruined over a plant. And, so we’re all on the same page, in every state.

Why the DEA continues to target marijuana is anyone’s guess.

A study done by Global Research says the prison industrial complex could have something to do with it, in addition to the influence of Big Pharma. Many agree.

As long as weed is illegal, there will continue to be many millions of inmates housed in the prison industrial complex.

“The private contracting of prisoners for work fosters incentives to lock people up,” Global Research reports. “Prisons depend on this income. Corporate stockholders who make money off prisoners’ work lobby for longer sentences, in order to expand their workforce.”

Very ugly, right? How dare the DEA blame the media for making it difficult to arrest people for pot?

You can keep up with all of HIGH TIMES’ marijuana news right here.