Justice Department Moves State-Licensed Medical Marijuana to Schedule III

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on Thursday signed an order moving state-licensed medical marijuana and FDA-approved marijuana products from Schedule I to the less restrictive Schedule III of the federal Controlled Substances Act, the Associated Press, NBC News and NPR reported.

Schedule I is reserved for drugs considered to have no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse, a category that includes heroin and LSD, according to NBC News and NPR. Schedule III is defined as covering drugs with “moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence,” NBC News reported, and NPR noted it includes anabolic steroids and ketamine. The order does not legalize marijuana for medical or recreational use under federal law, the AP said.

The AP reported that the order sets up an expedited way for state-licensed medical marijuana producers and distributors to register with the Drug Enforcement Administration, makes clear researchers will not be penalized for obtaining state-licensed marijuana, and lets licensed medical marijuana companies deduct business expenses on their federal taxes for the first time. Adam Rosenberg, chairman of the National Cannabis Industry Association, told NPR the tax treatment has cost operators “billions of dollars each year in excess taxes” and that the change could be applied retroactively. The Justice Department also set a hearing for June 29 to consider broader changes to marijuana’s status, NBC News reported.

“The Department of Justice is delivering on President Trump’s promise to expand Americans’ access to medical treatment options,” Blanche said in a statement, adding that the action “allows for research on the safety and efficacy of this substance.” The AP noted Mr. Trump told his administration in December to move quickly on reclassification and, the AP said, appeared to show frustration over the pace at an unrelated executive order signing on Saturday. White House spokesperson Kush Desai called it “a welcome step to increase critical research,” NBC News reported.

The legal effect is not simple. Douglas Berman, a law professor at Ohio State University’s Moritz College of Law, told NPR it is “not clear” that dispensaries “can now say, whoo-hoo. I’m now completely federally legal,” because many sales remain illegal in some sense under federal law, though he said the administration is signaling it wants medical marijuana to be “more of an aboveboard, regulated industry.” NPR said many questions remain about which products the order covers, since states run both medical and recreational programs.

The AP said the shift largely legitimizes the medical marijuana programs that 40 states have adopted. Two dozen states and Washington, D.C., allow adult recreational use, and only Idaho and Kansas ban marijuana outright. The federal prohibition dates to the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937, the AP noted.

Advocates and some medical experts say medical marijuana can ease symptoms of severe or chronic pain, terminal illness and cancer, NBC News reported, while critics caution that use in childhood and early adulthood can affect attention, memory and learning, and that long-term use may affect male fertility, according to NBC News, which was the only outlet to give these health points.