transcript

Speaker 1:
[00:02] President Trump said he's prepared to wait for Iran to make a deal. He also ordered the Navy to, quote, shoot and kill any boat laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz. The Pentagon says clearing mines could take up to six months. I'm Michelle Martin, and this is Up First from NPR News. The federal government is moving medical marijuana out of the category reserved for the most dangerous drugs. Medical cannabis will no longer be in the same category as heroin. It's a major shift in federal drug policy that could reshape how marijuana is bought, sold and studied. And a fast moving wildfire in South Georgia has destroyed nearly 90 homes.

Speaker 2:
[00:38] It's just a heartbreaking thing to leave your home and not know what you're going to come back to.

Speaker 1:
[00:43] The fires keep changing direction with the wind, and people are being told to evacuate with almost no notice. Stay with us. We'll give you news you need to start your day. President Trump says he is prepared to wait for the best deal to end his war with Iran. But he has also ordered the US military to quote, shoot and kill any boat trying to lay mines in the Strait of Hormuz. In a few minutes, we'll speak with John Bolton, who served as national security advisor in the first Trump administration. But we turn first to how shipping through the strategic waterway is virtually at a standstill over fears of Iranian mines and attacks on ships. The crisis is driving up prices and shortages of valuable commodities worldwide. NPR international affairs correspondent Jackie Northam has been following all this, and she's with us now to bring us out today. Good morning, Jackie.

Speaker 3:
[01:32] Morning, Michelle.

Speaker 1:
[01:33] First, let's talk about news that's just breaking. Now that Iran's foreign minister may travel to Pakistan, which has been mediating talks between Iran and the US. What can you tell us about this?

Speaker 3:
[01:44] Well, Iranian state media says that foreign minister Abbas Arrakchi will be traveling to Pakistan today. He's due to arrive in the capital Islamabad sometime tonight, local time. He will be traveling with a small team, and they're also going to include on the trip a visit to Russia and to Oman. While they're in Pakistan, they're going to meet with officials there. But there was no mention of meeting with the US while the foreign minister Arrakchi is in Pakistan.

Speaker 1:
[02:14] President Trump is ordering the US Navy to target any ship, presumably from Iran, that's laying mines in and around the Strait of Hormuz. How big a problem are mines?

Speaker 3:
[02:22] You know, there are no reliable figures as to how many mines are in and around the Strait of Hormuz. And one school of thought is that there may not be as many as Iran is letting on. There's also the chance that Iran doesn't know where all the mines are. So it's tough to say exactly what's out there. But it is an incredibly slow and dangerous process to clear the mines under the possible threat of attack. And in fact, a Pentagon assessment shared with Congress on Tuesday said it could take up to six months to fully clear the strait of mines, and that the operation wouldn't likely start until the war ends. And President Trump disputed that. He said in a social media post that US minesweepers were already clearing the strait.

Speaker 1:
[03:02] What kind of impact are the threat of mines and the threat of attacks by Iran having on the hundreds of ships that have been stuck around the Strait of Hormuz since the end of February? Are they still trying to move?

Speaker 3:
[03:13] Well we've seen just a trickle of ships trying to transit the strait since the beginning of the war, mostly with links to Iran. But after three ships were attacked with gunfire by Iran earlier this week and two of those were seized, it's having a chilling effect. It's just very risky even if they're not moving Iranian oil. I spoke with Basil Kratzas, who heads up Kratzas Marine Advisors and he says, it's a lucrative business for oil tankers to go to the Gulf, but not if they're getting stuck and many are choosing other routes now. Here he is.

Speaker 4:
[03:45] There are a substantial number of tanker ship owners, but they keep their vessels away from Middle East. They would rather do a conventional trade. That's minding the bank and without having to worry about Middle East Hormuz whether they're open or closing or whatever.

Speaker 3:
[04:04] And you know, show Beyond Oil, there are things like helium and fertilizer, aluminum, you know, critical elements for industry and farming and the like that are not moving through the Gulf now. And this is causing shortages worldwide and of course, driving up the cost. And let's not forget the 20,000 seafarers who have been stuck on these ships since the beginning. And there's no sign of that changing soon.

Speaker 1:
[04:26] Well, so President Trump earlier this week announced he would extend the ceasefire with Iran and definitely, is there any sign of a breakthrough in this war?

Speaker 3:
[04:35] At the moment, it feels like a stalemate with, you know, some incremental developments. Certainly these attacks on the ships by Iran are complicating the ceasefire. You know, the UK has been hosting military talks with other nations such as France to see if they can help out with the situation, but nothing has really come of these, primarily because they want to wait until the war is over. And in the meantime, you'll have Israel's defense minister said yesterday the country is waiting for the green light from Trump to push, quote, Iran back to the stone age.

Speaker 1:
[05:05] That is, and here's Jackie Northam. Jackie, thank you.

Speaker 3:
[05:07] Many thanks, Michelle.

Speaker 1:
[05:14] The US. Department of Justice on Thursday ordered an immediate change to the classification of medical cannabis. It is considered a major shift in marijuana policy by moving it out of the most dangerous class of drugs. This could open up research, and the legal marijuana industry is hoping it will help how they bank and pay taxes. Joining us to tell us more about this is Colorado Public Radio reporter Ben Marcus. Ben, good morning.

Speaker 5:
[05:36] Good morning.

Speaker 1:
[05:37] So what exactly does the order say, and how will it affect marijuana businesses?

Speaker 5:
[05:41] So this order moves medical marijuana from schedule one to schedule three. So rather than being in the same category as like heroin, it'll be in the same category as anabolic steroids or Tylenol with codeine. That's expected to normalize the business, meaning it could possibly open up more banking services, allow customers to use credit cards, it could allow businesses to make common tax deductions that they can't right now. This order is for medical though. DOJ did say that it's moving fast to more broadly reschedule marijuana, which would be good for recreational businesses. Sam Kamen is a law professor at the University of Denver, who's been studying marijuana policy for more than a decade.

Speaker 6:
[06:24] You see here Trump in a very Trumpian way saying, it's not happening fast enough, make it happen faster.

Speaker 5:
[06:30] While this doesn't legalize marijuana, Kamen said this is a historic first step.

Speaker 1:
[06:36] The order, as I understand it, does not apply to recreational marijuana. How does that work? Is that the dominant market in states like Colorado?

Speaker 5:
[06:45] Yeah. For medical only states like Florida or Oklahoma, this will benefit them more quickly. Colorado's medical market has shrunk every year since recreational cannabis was legalized in the state. Medical has become pretty small here. It's about 10 percent the size of the recreational market, which had $1.2 billion in sales last year. Tim Cullen, he started Colorado Harvest Company as a medical marijuana business and switched to recreational fully in 2014. So even though Thursday's order doesn't impact his business immediately, he's still hopeful that this signifies a major shift for all cannabis.

Speaker 6:
[07:24] Well, I'm excited about it. It's the largest federal move that's happened since I've been in this industry, which is coming up on 17 years now.

Speaker 5:
[07:33] Now, the Justice Department says it will expedite that broader review of marijuana, which could include recreational. An administrative hearing is scheduled for June, and that's lightning fast for the federal government on this issue.

Speaker 1:
[07:45] Oh, that's certainly true. So it's a relief for states that are majority medical marijuana. It's a relief for business, but it's wait and see on recreational. But talk about research. How will this order open up research into marijuana?

Speaker 5:
[07:57] So the Department of Justice said that this provides a long term solution for researchers who want to study medical cannabis. But the researchers I spoke with in Colorado said it may not have as big an impact for them. What they want to do is buy recreational products off the shelf for testing, the kinds of products the consumers actually use, like high-potency concentrates and vape pens or edibles. And they say there's also a larger stigma around funding for marijuana research generally.

Speaker 1:
[08:26] Are there legal challenges expected to this order?

Speaker 5:
[08:29] Advocates against marijuana, they continue to caution about the impact on kids of loosening marijuana policy. So the cannabis supporters, they're cautiously optimistic that this is a permanent change, but they do expect challenges. It's not a done deal yet. And attorneys from all sides will be picking this complex order apart for some time.

Speaker 1:
[08:48] That's Colorado Public Radio's Ben Marcus. I want to mention he's been reporting on marijuana policy since the state legalized it in 2012. Ben, thanks.

Speaker 5:
[08:56] Thank you.

Speaker 1:
[09:05] Wildfires are still burning in South Georgia and Northern Florida. One in Georgia has destroyed nearly 90 homes and forced people to evacuate. The region has been in a worsening drought for months, which has made it easier for wildfires to spread and harder for firefighters to contain. Emily Jones from member station WABE has been covering the fire. She's with us now. You were reporting yesterday on the ground in Brantley County where some people have lost their homes. What did you see and hear there?

Speaker 7:
[09:31] People are pretty shaken. They're not used to dealing with wildfires here. They've seen hurricanes but not really fires like this. This is a community near Brunswick, but it's a pretty rural area. There's lots of forest land. The evacuation orders are popping up really suddenly because the fire is changing direction suddenly with the wind. That's been really tough on people. They think they're okay one minute and then before they know it, police or firefighters show up telling them that they need to get out. Yesterday evening, I was at a church where people are sheltering and I spoke with Spring Gillis right after she arrived with her husband, her kids and her dog. They had just been ordered to evacuate.

Speaker 2:
[10:11] It's just a heartbreaking thing to leave your home and not know what you're going to come back to.

Speaker 7:
[10:16] And for her and most people who have evacuated, it may be a while before they find out if their homes are okay.

Speaker 1:
[10:22] So what's the situation now? Have firefighters managed to get the wildfires under control?

Speaker 7:
[10:27] They have not. There are two major fires, actually, that people are concerned about, and neither one is any more than about 15% contained. So one fire down by the Florida border is actually a lot bigger, but it's farther from where people live. So there hasn't been as much damage or as many evacuations. Actually, some folks down there who had to evacuate earlier in the week have been able to return home. That is not the case in Brantley County where I was yesterday. That fire has kept moving quickly and it keeps threatening new areas.

Speaker 1:
[10:57] And we mentioned that the region has been dealing with a major drought. How much is that a factor in these fires?

Speaker 7:
[11:03] It's a huge factor. It is about as dry as it has ever been here. In the last six months, Georgia got the least rainfall that we've had since we started keeping records in the 1890s. It's more than a foot below the normal rainfall. And that makes it a lot easier for fires to spread. It's usually pretty wet down here and that really helps keep fires in check. Right now, the trees and the underbrush are really dried out. The water levels are so low in all of the rivers and in the swamp. This time of year actually is the normal fire season for Georgia, but that just does not mean the same thing that it means out west. Normally, we see fires start, but they just don't get very far because there is plenty of water and rainfall to stop them.

Speaker 1:
[11:48] And before we let you go, Emily, climate change, is that contributing to this?

Speaker 7:
[11:52] It's hard to say how much of an impact climate change is having on a specific event like this while it's still ongoing. But in general, we know climate change is making many severe weather events more extreme. So when we get rain, it can be a lot more rain. When we have a severe drought, climate change can make it more intense. And I know from my own reporting that communities here in the Southeast are having to prepare for weather events that they're not used to.

Speaker 1:
[12:16] That is Emily Jones from WABE. Her reporting is part of a partnership between WABE and non-profit news outlet, GRIST. Emily, thank you so much.

Speaker 7:
[12:24] Thank you.

Speaker 1:
[12:28] And that's Up First for Friday, April 24th. I'm Michelle Martin. Today's episode of Up First was edited by James Hyder, Ruth Sherlick, Alfredo Carbajal, Rachel Waldholz, Mohamad ElBardicy and HJ. Mai. It was produced by Katie Klein and Nia Dumas. Our director is Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Nisha Hyness. Our technical director is Carleigh Strange. And our executive producer is Jay Schaler. We hope you'll join us again on Monday.