Government Set To Reclassify Marijuana
Marijuana to be re-scheduled. What that means and what to make of the election year timing (hint: Biden's support among young people is cratering)
Hey everybody! So I’ve been on a little spring vacation (a belated honeymoon to Mexico and Costa Rica). ’m back now and there’s some drug policy news. This post is about the federal government removing its head from the sand and finally taking some steps to change marijuana law. But don’t get too excited.
Before you read on, here is video of a sloth eating a bannana in Costa Rica and a picture of me enjoying Mexico City’s cafe society.
OK, Now Let’s Talk About Drug Policy
It has boggled many minds for a long time that marijuana has remained a federally prohibited Schedule I substance. Keeping marijuana locked in the most restricted category has meant that the federal government (purports to) believe that marijuana has zero medical uses and a high potential for “abuse” and “dependence.” Other examples of schedule I substances are heroin, LSD, MDMA, Quaaludes, and Peyote.
One of these things is not like the other.
With 24 states having outright legalized marijuana for adults and 38 states having long established medical marijuana programs, the federal classification of marijuana has is collapsing under the weight of its own contradictions. So much so that the Department of Justice and the DEA may have to actually start doing their job. Marijuana’s federally prohibition is absurd. One can goto jail for selling and possessing it. And yet, more than half of Americans live in states where they can also walk into a store and buy it.
Finally, the DOJ/DEA is set to down schedule marijuana to a schedule III substance from a schedule I substance. This means that federal government would acknowledge that marijuana has some medical benefits, which it clearly does. Still, schedule III substances remain controlled and regulated, as they are also recognized as having some potential for “abuse.” Other schedule III drugs include ketamine, steroids, testosterone, Tylenol+codeine. This is a class of drugs that is recognized as less likely to produce severe dependence and addiction.
So what does this all mean for us normal people? What follows is a list of stuff that would and could change if the reclassification sails through the lengthy bureacratic re-scheduling process. Then, I’ll end this post on what I think about the political and electoral implications of this election year decision.
First, Why did this even happen?
In October 2022, President Biden signed an executive order that enlisted the Department of Health and Human Services to review the scientific literature of cannabis and come up with a recommended change to the drug’s classification. This plan built on Biden’s campaign rhetoric that “no one should be in jail just for using or possessing marijuana.” In that same announcement, Biden pardoned all prior federal offenses for simple possession of marijuana. And Biden has continued to pardon and grant clemency to those who have served “disproportionately long” sentences for nonviolent drug offenses.
What does schedule III mean for consumers?
As I mentioned, schedule III drugs are still very much regulated and tightly controlled. You cannot just walk into a store and buy ketamine or steroids, right? You still have to find someone dressed in all black in a club or stop by muscle beach and hit up the dude wearing a fannypack and a crop top to get those drugs. In other words: You need a prescription from a doctor in order to legally possess it.
What does schedule III mean for criminal-legal issues?
As for arrests and incarceration: These days there are not many cases of people going to federal prison for just possesing/selling/using marijuana. But people still do get in trouble for growing, manufacturing, trafficking, and selling large amounts of it. Even in states where it is legal. This doesn’t change that.
In Schedule III, marijuana functions like other FDA-approved products that doctors can prescribe. To be legally in the clear, patients must use approved marijuana products pursuant to a doctor’s prescription. This doesn’t make a lot of sense to me to be honest. People often compare the marijuana industry to tobacco and alcohol. Doctors haven’t prescribed alcohol and cigarettes to patients for what, 60 years?
Marijuana re-scheduling, rather than decrim or de-scheduling, keeps marijuana in this odd legal limbo.
At the end of the day, the schedule III change does not mean that much your average person. As for criminal-justice reform, David Culver, VP of Public Affairs at the U.S. Cannabis Council, put it best to the AP: “Put simple, this move from Schedule I to Schedule III is not getting people out of jail.”
What does schedule III mean for science, research, and medicine?
Schedule III makes researching marijuana easier. It is quite difficult to get all the permissions needed to study schedule I substances. Clinical studies involving human subjects are especially tough to get through. And this certainly explains why there’s some gaping holes in marijuana research (which many cynics have exploited). So when this rule change eventually happens and the new landscape is set up, that could mean a much more robust marijuana research agenda. I think that’s good.
For medical marijuana, the federal government is basically treating marijuana like a prescription drug, which, again, doesn’t make a lot of sense. Prescription drugs tend to be made by specific manufacturers, sold in specific forms (pills, capsules, liquid, etc.), contain specific formulas, and are prescribed at very specific increments and doses. None of this really applies to marijuana It’s a plant. There’s a million strains that claim to produce all kinds of effects. Good luck dosing!
What does schedule III mean for the legal cannabis market and business?
The most obvious change on the business side is taxes. Companies dealing with schedule I substances can’t write off many expenses that others can (payroll, rent, expenses, etc.). This has meant weed companies are soaked in high taxes. The rule change will mean that the marijuana biz will be taxed a lot less. The industry argues that this will increase their ability to compete with the illegal market. Products will be cheaper, they say, and they can hire more people. The illegal market has been thriving in many legal states, and industry players are hoping this will help quash that.
At the end of the day, moving marijuana to schedule III is most beneficial to the marijuana industry.
Criticism.
Kaliko Castille, President of the Minority Cannabis Business Association, told AP that rescheduling just “re-brands prohibition” and keeps marijuana in a strange legal limbo with states divided from the federal government. “Schedule III is going to leave it in this kind of amorphous, mucky middle where people are not going to understand the danger of it still being federally illegal,” Castille added.
Election Year Politics, Etc.
I cannot read the soul of the Biden adminstration. Biden’s move this week to loosen restrictions on weed may very well have been planned for some time. Or, maybe, it is a calculated election year decision meant to shore up his support among a key demographic: young people. After all, student loans and weed are popular things young people care about. Right? (sort of). Maybe, it really did take HHS officials four years to read the literature on weed and conclude that, no, weed is not as dangerous as heroin, and that this should change. For the latter possibility… I think not.
Which makes the timing of this is worth lingering on. President Biden promised a change coming to marijuana law during his 2020 campaign. Then, in 2022, he announced HHS will begin the process to re-classify it, as he slowly granted pardons and clemencies. Finally, four years later, and we get this announcement that change is actually happening….soon? Well, eventually.
Here is what frustrates me about so many Democratic presidents: Why do they wait to do supposedly good stuff they promised to do at the very end of their term? Why wait so long? No one is going to have any actual experience of living in a world with looser marijuana restrictions.
What if Biden did this in the first 100 days: He appointed a team at HHS to do a speedy review of the science. Told his Attorney General to get the DEA to start making moves. And for the past three or so years, weed has already been in schedule III. And so the benefits (even if very minor) could be bragged about on the campaign trail. And then, Biden makes another promise. This time, to go even further, like fully de-schedule marijuana. “If you vote for me, I’m going to keep on doing good stuff.”
It just seems much harder to brag about this small change that took four years to get started, and that still hasn’t even happened yet.
Based on chants of “Genocide Joe!” I keep hearing on college campuses, Biden’s youth support is sinking faster than the Titanic. Biden’s polling has been bad, especially with young people. In the press, Biden is tied directly to the actions of the Israeli government. And this has been quite bad for his domestic popularity, especially in crucial swing states like Michigan and Georgia.
From my view, this very minor marijuana reform kinda landed like a dud.