MJBizMag March 2022 - 38

Rescheduling
Roulette
By Omar Sacirbey
T
he absurdity of federal
marijuana policy in the
United States is perhaps
best symbolized by the placement
of cannabis on Schedule 1 of the
Controlled Substances Act, according to
industry observers.
Schedule 1 is reserved for drugs
considered highly addictive and having
no medicinal value. By comparison,
cocaine is listed on Schedule 2,
implying the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration considers the drug less
dangerous and less likely to be abused
than marijuana.
Cannabis advocates have objected to
the designation since the Controlled
Substances Act was first published
in 1971.
Shifting Directions
Rescheduling marijuana from Schedule
1 to something lower was, until recently,
viewed as the most likely path to legalization.
But that was before the recent
wave of support for marijuana reform in
Congress, where pro-legalization sentiment
has never been greater.
It was also before the federal
government's attempt at hemp
regulation, primarily through the
2018 Farm Bill, which many
stakeholders say has resulted in
confusion over how CBD and other
cannabinoids can be used. This has
fueled the assertion held by some
industry observers that federal
involvement in marijuana regulation
is bound to make matters worse.
38 March 2022 | MJBizMagazine
Heather
Hatcher
" Our position is that cannabis should
" I think we can get a hint of how well
this might go from the 2018 Farm Bill, "
said Heather Hatcher, a North Carolinabased
regulatory scientist with the law
firm Womble Bond Dickinson, where
she advises attorneys on regulatory
matters related to the DEA and U.S. Food
and Drug Administration. " It's a bit of a
hot mess. "
(See " Liquid Gold " in the February
2022 issue of MJBizMagazine to learn
how the 2018 U.S. Farm Bill created
a legal loophole for delta-8 THC
and other unregulated, intoxicating
cannabinoids.)
What Would Change
Now, with reform efforts squarely
focused on Congress, rescheduling
is on the back burner. That's just fine
with most cannabis industry executives
and advocates, who view Congress as
the preferred path to legalization and
who see several potential pitfalls with
rescheduling.
be descheduled. It should not be
treated as a controlled substance, " said
Steve Hawkins, executive director of
the U.S. Cannabis Council in Washington
DC. " With the current political
atmosphere, we believe strongly that
there are opportunities in this Congress
for substantial cannabis reform
and that any talk of rescheduling would
be taking away from the mission and
not matching where the political winds
are at this time. "
Nonetheless, some cannabis
executives believe that rescheduling
is more likely to happen than
congressional legalization, and they
see it unleashing a wave of new
opportunities for pharmaceutical
companies and state-licensed
marijuana businesses.
" Schedule 2 would drive hospital
systems and the VA (Department of
Veterans Affairs Medical Centers) to
make it available. We truly believe it
would be a new paradigm, " said Dr.
Steven Groff, founder and chair of
Dallastown, Pennsylvania-based Groff
North America, one of a handful of
entities in the United States with a
DEA license for growing marijuana
that can be sold to businesses,
universities and other organizations
conducting federally approved
research involving cannabis. " How the
state medical folks do in this paradigm
is still a question, but I think that
there are grand opportunities for
them to do very well. "
The pros and cons of moving
cannabis from Schedule 1 on
the list of controlled substances
MJBizMag March 2022

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