Ten months after the Biden administration requested the Department of Health and Human Services “to initiate the administrative process to review expeditiously how marijuana is scheduled under federal law,” Secretary Xavier Becerra confirmed that the agency has recommended cannabis be removed from its Schedule I classification and placed in a lower schedule. While the explicit details of HHS’ recommendation are not public, reporting last week by Bloomberg News says that the agency is suggesting that cannabis be moved to Schedule III of the federal Controlled Substances Act.
While some entities, particularly those involved in the commercial cannabis industry, have lauded the proposed change as a “giant” step forward, others – like myself – have been far more restrained.
Cannabis Must Be Descheduled
Here’s why.
First, reclassifying cannabis to a lower schedule within the CSA continues to misrepresent the plant’s safety relative to other controlled substances such as anabolic steroids and ketamine (Schedule III), benzodiazepines (Schedule IV), or even alcohol, which is unscheduled.
Second, moving cannabis to Schedule III is out of step with public and cultural consensus. Americans don’t want cannabis treated like heroin, like it is now. Still, they also don’t want it treated like a Schedule III substance like ketamine, which is only legal to possess with a physician’s prescription.
Third, and most importantly, this proposed change does little to address the widening divide between state-legal marijuana laws and federal law. Every state law that is currently in conflict with federal law today will remain in conflict with federal law going forward when or if the Administration reclassifies cannabis as a Schedule III substance.
That is why, historically, NORML has called for descheduling cannabis — removing it from the Controlled Substances Act altogether — thereby providing state governments rather than the federal government the ability to regulate marijuana as they see fit, without violating federal law.
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