If you have not yet heard the news, the DOJ has acquiesced to HHS and the FDA and recommended that marijuana be moved to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). A 60-day public comment period opened in late May 2024 and will continue through late July. After that, the DOJ is expected to implement a final rule to reschedule marijuana.
It is interesting that the DOJ seems to be focusing its efforts on gathering public opinion about the business side of things. They recognize that the marijuana industry is worth billions of dollars nationwide. They want to know how rescheduling will impact marijuana from an economic standpoint. But what about the medical implications? They are just as big, if not bigger.
Currently a Schedule I Controlled Substance
For the next 60 days or so, marijuana is a Schedule I controlled substance – as it has been since the 1970s. All substances on Schedule I are considered highly addictive and with little to no medical benefit. Marijuana being on Schedule I has allowed the medical community to largely dismiss it. That all changes with rescheduling.
Schedule III controlled substances are substances with “moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence.” In addition, nearly all of the substances on Schedule III have medicinal uses. They include things like Tylenol with codeine, ketamine, and testosterone.
Moving marijuana to the lower schedule implies two things: it is not highly addictive, and it has legitimate medical applications. This is huge. By effectively admitting marijuana can be used medicinally, the DOJ is all but demanding that the drug be given the same treatment as other Schedule III substances.
Little Changes at the State Level
Rescheduling does not mean legalization. Once the DOJ publishes its final rule, marijuana will not suddenly become legal for any and all consumption across the board. Recreational use will still be illegal. As for medical use, it will be regulated by the states.
Utah is among the states with an active medical cannabis program. All medical cannabis consumed in the state must be produced there. It can only be sold at retail by approved entities like Brigham City’s Beehive Farmacy medical cannabis dispensary. Even with rescheduling, none of this is likely to change.
Likewise, South Carolina is among a shrinking number of states that still take a prohibitionist view of medical cannabis. Unless state lawmakers change things, medical cannabis will remain illegal even under rescheduling.
It is unlikely that states would lose control over marijuana regulation even if Washington did decide to completely legalize the drug. In all likelihood, federal legalization would lead to a system similar to what we now have with alcohol. Washington would retain control over interstate commerce, but the states would regulate production, processing, and sales within their borders.
Changes in the Healthcare Community
We would expect to see the most significant changes within the healthcare community. Rescheduling implies medical benefits. Therefore, healthcare providers would no longer be able to dismiss medical cannabis without at least some consideration. Even more importantly, rescheduling opens the door to more research along with FDA approval, traditional prescriptions, and health insurance coverage.
Whether the healthcare community likes it or not, they are eventually going to have to accept cannabis as a medicine. Putting it in the same category as ketamine and anabolic steroids forces the matter.
Rescheduling may not be what advocates of full legalization had hoped for, but it is significant, nonetheless. Moving marijuana to Schedule III recognizes its medical benefits and dispels the long-held idea that it is highly addictive. That should mean big things for both medical cannabis patients and the industry.
