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Hillary Rodham Clinton on Saturday proposed reclassifying marijuana to make it a less dangerous substance and to encourage more research into its medicinal benefits.

At a town hall in Orangeburg, S.C., Mrs. Clinton said marijuana, currently classified in the most dangerous category (or “Schedule I”) of the Controlled Substances Act, should be changed in its federal classification to “Schedule II” so that it can be experimented with and implemented for medical use.

“I do support the use of medical marijuana,” she said in response to a question about the drug at the town hall, hosted by the journalist Roland Martin and held at Claflin University, a historically black school.

“I think even there we need to do a lot more research so that we know exactly how we’re going to help people for whom medical marijuana provides relief,” she continued.

The comments come as Mrs. Clinton has proposed sweeping changes to the criminal justice system, increased gun control measures and a rethinking of mandatory minimum sentences for low-level drug offenders.

“We have got to stop imprisoning people who use marijuana,” Mrs. Clinton said at the first Democratic debate in Las Vegas last month.

Senator Bernie Sanders, of Vermont, has also proposed a federal reclassification of marijuana for medicinal use.