WASHINGTON – The Biden administration is set to take a historic step toward loosening federal regulations on cannabis, soon to announce interim rules that will reclassify cannabis for the first time since the Controlled Substances Act was enacted more than 50 years ago. Four people involved said that. The decision was told to NBC News.
The Drug Enforcement Administration is expected to approve a Department of Health and Human Services opinion that marijuana should be reclassified from the strictest Schedule I to the less strict Schedule III, allowing the U.S. government to reduce marijuana’s potential medical benefits. You will be the first to recognize the benefits. Then I start studying in earnest.
Filed by Attorney General Merrick Garland A proposal to change the schedule was submitted to the White House Office of Management and Budget on Tuesday afternoon, a person familiar with the situation said. NBC News.
It will still be several months before the reclassification takes effect. After the proposal is published in the Federal Register, there will be a 60-day public comment period. The proposal would then be considered by an administrative law judge, who could decide to hold a public hearing before the rules are approved.
Meaning of rescheduling
Since 1971, marijuana has been classified in the same category as heroin, methamphetamine, and LSD. Each Schedule I substance is defined as a drug with no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. Schedule III substances include codeine, steroids, and Tylenol, which contains testosterone.
Rescheduling cannabis would result in the drug being studied to identify specific medical benefits, and would involve pharmaceutical companies in selling and distributing it in states where medical cannabis is legal. The road will be opened.
For the $34 billion cannabis industry, the move would also ease a significant tax burden for companies in states where the drug is legal, especially since legal cannabis companies currently qualify as business as usual. It would eliminate Section 280E of the Internal Revenue Service Code, which prohibits deductions. Expenses.
The Justice Department’s decision to reschedule will also help curtail a black market that has flourished despite legalization in states like New York and California, undermining the heavily regulated and highly taxed legal market. there is a possibility.
developed over many years
President Joe Biden directed the Department of Health and Human Services in October 2022 to review the classification of marijuana. Federal scientists have concluded that there is reliable evidence that cannabis provides medical benefits and poses fewer health risks than other controlled substances.
Biden also made history during this year’s State of the Union address when he mentioned marijuana and the federal review process for the first time from the podium on the House floor. The president said in his speech that “no one should be jailed for using or possessing marijuana.”
When Biden served as vice president in former President Barack Obama’s administration, the White House opposed legalizing marijuana, saying it posed “significant health and safety risks to all Americans.”
Jim Cole, who served as deputy attorney general in the Obama administration, wrote the now-infamous Cole memo in 2013 that paved the way for the modern marijuana market. The memo would reduce federal intervention in states that have legalized marijuana, as long as they have “strong and effective regulatory and enforcement systems in place to control the cultivation, distribution, sale, and possession of marijuana.” It is said that it will.
Cole, who is currently a member of the National Cannabis Roundtable, said in an interview with NBC News this week that reclassifying marijuana to Schedule III “allows us to actually test it and put it in the lab without all the restrictive measures.” It will become so.” of Schedule I drugs.
Kevin Sabet, president and CEO of Smart Approaches to Marijuana and a former Obama administration adviser, said the decision to reclassify marijuana was “the result of a politicized process.” , argued that it would be “devastating for the children of America who would be shot.” Make attractive advertisements and promotions for child-friendly hot pot products. ”
“The only winner here is the marijuana industry, and they will get new tax breaks to expand their profit margins,” Sabet said. “Reclassifying marijuana as a Schedule III drug would send a message that marijuana is less addictive and less dangerous than ever before. In fact, today’s highly potent and ultra-potent marijuana It is more addictive and is associated with psychosis and other mental illnesses, lower IQ, and other problems.
Researchers have expressed concern about the mental illnesses caused by potent marijuana and cannabis, especially in young men.
Future tasks
Once the DEA makes an official announcement, the marijuana industry will benefit immediately. However, the DEA’s proposed rule changes are subject to a public review period, which could lead to challenges and even changes to the proposed rescheduling.
Once the public comment period ends and the Office of Management and Budget reviews the decision, Congress could also overturn the rule under the Congressional Review Act, which gives the Legislature the authority to review rules issued by federal agencies. Democrats control a majority of 51 seats in the Senate, and the CRA would need support from two-thirds of both chambers to pass, so the marijuana deferral is likely to remain in place.
While cannabis remains a divisive topic on Capitol Hill, there is growing bipartisan support for cannabis reform, driven primarily by voters. Nearly six in 10 Americans say marijuana should be legal for medical and recreational purposes, according to a Pew Research poll last month. Marijuana is legal in 24 states for recreational purposes.
Congress is considering its own bill
Congress is considering its own measures that would make it easier for legal cannabis businesses to thrive and allow more small, minority-owned stores to flood the market.
For example, the SAFER Banking Act, which would give legal cannabis businesses access to traditional banking and financial services, could pass both chambers of Congress by the end of the year.
Lawmakers are also considering the HOPE Act, another bipartisan bill that would provide resources to states and localities to automatically expunge criminal records for minor, nonviolent marijuana offenses.
There is also a Democratic-only effort to completely remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act and empower states to enact their own cannabis laws and prioritize restorative and economic justice for countries affected by the war on drugs. be.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D.N.Y.) applauded the administration’s move, saying, “To keep up with the science and what the majority of Americans are saying, we need to change our restrictive and strict cannabis laws. “We have finally realized that there is a need.” . ”
At the same time, he said he is “strongly committed” to advancing both the SAFER Banking Act and the Democratic bill that would completely remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act. “Congress must do everything it can to end federal marijuana prohibition and address the years of harm caused by the war on drugs,” he said.
Sen. Cory Booker (D.N.J.) also praised the administration’s move, but warned, “We still have a long way to go.”
Booker called on Congress to “follow the lead of states across the country and legalize adult-use cannabis and create a comprehensive tax and regulatory system.”
“Thousands of people are in prison across the country for marijuana-related crimes, and thousands continue to suffer the devastating collateral effects of a criminal record,” Booker said. Told. “Legal cannabis businesses, especially those in areas hardest hit by the war on drugs, still have to navigate a complex patchwork of state laws and regulatory systems. My colleagues on both sides of the aisle, especially health care programs, I hope that those who represent voters who benefit from adult programs will join me in passing federal legislation to address these issues.”
But there is a sense of weariness among lawmakers, remembering the last time Congress enacted legislation regarding the drug.
The Republican-led Senate legalized hemp production in the 2018 Farm Bill, a decision that allowed synthetic and exotic cannabinoids to be sold over the counter, often without regulation, especially in states where marijuana is not legal.
This is a gray area that has drawn pushback from both sides of the aisle, and more recently with the rise of delta-8, which uses chemicals (some of which are harmful) to convert hemp-derived CBD to delta-8 tetrahydrocannabinol. Synthetic THC products have emerged that use THC.
