The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration will move to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug, a historic shift to generations of American drug policy that could have wide ripple-effects across the country. The proposal still must be reviewed by the White House Office of Management and Budget. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)
A move by the Biden Administration to change how marijuana is treated by federal authorities was met with cautious approval by Massachusetts state regulators, cannabis sellers, and national marijuana advocates alike.
The Drug Enforcement Agency will drop marijuana from the list of banned substances found under Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, where it currently sits alongside heroin and LSD. It will instead move it to Schedule III, among the likes of Tylenol with codeine and anabolic steroids. This follows the recommendation of the Department of Health and Human Services
“Rescheduling cannabis is a monumental step forward for the federal government, one that can open new avenues to research, medical use, and banking for the regulated industries states like Massachusetts have built across the country,” said Ava Callender Concepcion, the acting chair of the Bay State’s Cannabis Control Commission.
But Concepcion and other industry professionals have cautioned that lessening the plant’s classification could open the cannabis market to larger retail pharmacies who already have the capacity and licensure to dispense Schedule III drugs with a prescription.
“If cannabis is moved to a Schedule III, this legally allows Big Parma to ‘research’ and ultimately create/use cannabis as medicine, which is exactly what this grassroots industry was fearful of from the onset,” Rich Rainone, Co-Founder of Dazed Cannabis, told the Herald in a statement, adding the industry could be “overrun.”
This could upend the efforts some states, like Massachusetts, have made to ensure the communities most impacted by marijuana prohibition are the ones most likely to benefit from its growing acceptance, Rainone warned. The state’s top pot regulator seemed to agree.
“In order to fully realize the full potential of this industry, it will be essential that we safeguard our equity efforts and ensure that the positive impacts of this change are felt industry-wide,” Concepcion said. “Massachusetts is a leader in this space, ready and willing to share our proven practices for regulating a safe, effective, and equitable industry with our federal partners as rescheduling moves forward.”
Charlotte Hanna, founder and CEO of Massachusetts-based Rebelle cannabis dispensaries, said the government’s decision is nevertheless an “historic and long-overdue shift in federal cannabis policy.”
“For generations, American drug policy has criminalized cannabis and refused to recognize its legitimate medical uses, causing immense harm. While the DEA’s proposal would not legalize marijuana outright for recreational use, it signifies a huge step forward in correcting past injustices and getting the government on the right side of history when it comes to cannabis,” Hanna said.
National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws Deputy Director Paul Armentano agreed the policy shift is “significant” but also stressed regulators needed to do more to address the wide gaps between many state marijuana laws and federal cannabis rules.
“The goal of any federal cannabis policy reform ought to be to address the existing, untenable divide between federal marijuana policy and the cannabis laws of the majority of US states,” he said. “Existing state legalization laws — both adult use and medical — will continue to be in conflict with federal regulations, thereby perpetuating the existing divide between state and federal marijuana policies.”
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland circulated the proposal to reschedule marijuana, a Department of Justice spokesperson told the Associated Press Tuesday. Once it’s “published by the Federal Register, it will initiate a formal rulemaking process as prescribed by Congress in the Controlled Substances Act.”
Once approved by the Biden White House’s Office of Management and Budget and published with Federal Register, the rule will open to public comment. A Final Rule, once published, would take effect 30 days later.