By Tom Angell
The federal government is keeping marijuana in Schedule I for now.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has announced that it has decided to rule against petitions to reclassify cannabis under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).
In a separate move announced along with the scheduling determination, the agency is removing a roadblock that has long stood in the way of more research into marijuana’s medical benefits.
Since 1968, the only legal source of cannabis for studies in the U.S. has been University of Mississippi, which operates under a license from the federal government. Scientists have complained that it is difficult to obtain marijuana from the facility and that even when their applications are granted, the product is often of poor quality.
Until now, DEA has taken the position that international drug control treaties prevent it from licensing more growers. But in May, the U.S. State Department said that interpretation is wrong.
And now, DEA will begin granting more cultivation licenses to other academic institutions, a move that is expected to greatly increase the amount and variety of cannabis available for research.
Political pressure has been mounting to force the federal government to ease up on marijuana. Last year, the Department of Health and Human Services removed one barrier to research: An extra review that studies on marijuana — but not other drugs — had to go through.
Earlier this year, DEA announced that it would soon make a determination on whether marijuana should remain in Schedule I, the most restrictive category, which is supposed to be reserved for substances with no medical value. The decision comes a little more than a month after the deadline it initially laid out for itself.
By announcing the cultivation license expansion simultaneously with the rescheduling denial, DEA may be trying to soften expected criticism that the agency is continuing an approach to marijuana that not only ignores science but actively blocks it.
Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has repeatedly pledged on the campaign trail that she will reclassify marijuana to Schedule II if elected.
What Would Rescheduling Do?
Moving marijuana out of Schedule I — or, removing it from the CSA altogether, like alcohol and tobacco — would have a number of effects.
Reclassification to Schedule III or lower, for example, would protect federal employees who use marijuana from a Reagan-era executive order that defines illegal drugs as Schedule I or II substances.
Additionally, only drugs under Schedules I and II are affected by the tax provision known as “280E,” which disallows state-legal businesses from deducting normal operational expenses from their federal taxes.
Because current laws and regulations prevent the Department of Health and Human Services and the Office of National Drug Control Policy from fairly evaluating Schedule I drugs, reclassification would allow the government to examine and communicate about marijuana in a way that prioritizes science instead of an outdated drug war mindset.
Rescheduling would also make scientific research easier. Douglas Throckmorton, deputy director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, testified before the Senate that marijuana’s Schedule I status means there are “additional steps” that scientists wishing to study it must take and that reclassification would expand opportunities for research.
Moving cannabis out of Schedule I would also put an end to threats that newspapers who mail publications containing marijuana advertisements are facing from the U.S. Postal Service, since the federal law that agency cites to justify its actions only applies to Schedule I drugs.
Finally, removing marijuana from Schedule I and officially recognizing that the drug has medical value would send a strong message to state lawmakers and international leaders that the federal government is beginning to address decades of mistakes on marijuana policy, and that they should too.
But rescheduling alone would not remove the criminal penalties that still put people abiding by state marijuana laws at risk of federal prosecution and prison sentences. Other statutes would have to be amended to accomplish that.
Prominent Voices Call for Rescheduling
On Wednesday, the National Conference of State Legislatures passed a resolution calling on the federal government to reclassify cannabis, saying it’s current Schedule I designation causes public safety problems by preventing marijuana businesses from having access to banks.
Former Attorney General Eric Holder endorsed rescheduling marijuana after leaving office.
“I certainly think it ought to be rescheduled,” Holder said in an interview with PBS. “You know, we treat marijuana in the same way that we treat heroin now, and that clearly is not appropriate.”
And last month, another former top Justice Department official called for cannabis to be removed from Schedule I.
“Probably the biggest frustration over time – and it comes from both what Congress does, because they have the power to do this, and what the regulatory process is through both FDA and DEA – is marijuana continuing to be a Schedule I drug,” former Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole said. “And that, I think, needs to be changed. Because there is an enormous amount of anecdotal evidence of marijuana having some sort of medical efficacy.”
This is a developing story and will be updated with further details.
