DENVER (AP) – Colorado has become the fourth state to ask the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to reclassify marijuana in way that allows doctors to prescribe it as a medical treatment.

Following the governors of Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington state, Colorado says that the discrepancy between federal drug law, which does not permit medicinal uses of marijuana, and state drug law is problematic.

The head of Colorado’s Department of Revenue, the agency that oversees the state’s booming medical marijuana business, sent the letter Dec. 22. It wasn’t released to the public until Wednesday because of the Christmas holiday.

Last month, the governors of Washington and Rhode Island also asked that the government list marijuana as a Schedule 2 drug.

By Kristen Wyatt, AP Writer

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CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story stated that Colorado was the third state asking for the reclasssification.