Will Marijuana be Federally Rescheduled This Year?

Despite having national adoption at the state level, marijuana still sits on the DEA’s list of scheduled narcotics. Note that the DEA has rarely, if ever, rejected a rescheduling recommendation from HHS. Their unredacted scheduling recommendation has recently been leaked, and it is 252 pages analyzing and proposing that the DEA move cannabis to a schedule three. Will cannabis be rescheduled this year? Sit tight as we light up for more. Now to bring you up to speed, if you’ve tuned into any of our previous videos on hemp or marijuana’s federal status, then you’re probably aware that marijuana, despite having national adoption at the state level and hemp’s federal legality as of 2018, that marijuana still sits on the DEA’s list of scheduled narcotics. Specifically, it’s listed as a schedule one drug, which is the highest classification that is defined as having high abuse risk with no accepted medical use.

Now, if you use cannabis at all, you know how silly it is for marijuana to be up there amongst PCP and crack cocaine. But nonetheless, it is, and it’s been an ongoing battle ever since it was placed there in 1970. For the last 54 years, cannabis has slowly been destigmatized, so much so that there is increasing pressure on the federal government to adjust cannabis’s status. In fact, in October of 2022, President Biden directed the Department of Health and Human Services to reconsider whether the classification of cannabis as a schedule one drug under the Controlled Substances act was appropriate in light of current medical science. Some industry operators are for sure in favor of reclassification from schedule one to another schedule, stating that any shift could help alleviate some of the criminal penalties that come with a schedule one status, as well as open up opportunities for more financial stability for operators. And while some are in favor of reclassification, others are pressing for its removal from the scheduled list altogether.

Of course, it’s a bit complex just moving it from one schedule to the next. Who has the power? And what is the timeline? Specifically, the recommendation for rescheduling would come from the health and human Services, but then would need to go to the DEA for reconsideration. Note that the DEA has rarely, if ever, rejected a rescheduling recommendation from HHS. This all got amped up, though, when late 2023 a top official at the Department of Health and Human Services wrote the DEA’s head, Anne Milgram, calling for marijuana to be reclassified as a schedule three drug under the Controlled Substances act. And this is according to a letter dated August 29, 2023. Their unredacted scheduling recommendation has recently been leaked, and it is 252 pages analyzing and proposing that the DEA move cannabis to a schedule three. Specifically, it goes into establishing a new standard for currently accepted medical use based on state level data, which is being pulled from current medical states and patients to ultimately prove the point that cannabis, in fact, does have medical use. The reality is, while this is a momentous next step, the progressing of this within the next two years is highly unlikely.

And on top of it, we have a presidential election coming up. But it is a huge step that could have massive implications for operators and consumers alike if the DEA were to accept the HHS rescheduling recommendation. Of course, we’ll be tracking this conversation closely and be sure to share our updates right here on our website. Be sure to forward this to a friend to keep them in the know. See you guys for the next cannabis educational blog post from RESTART!