Health Officials To DEA: Ease Federal Restrictions On Cannabis - Will This Set Stage For Legalization?

A top official at the Department of Health and Human Services wrote to Drug Enforcement Agency administrator Anne Milgram calling for marijuana to be reclassified as a Schedule III drug under the Controlled Substances Act, according to a letter dated Aug. 29 seen by Bloomberg News. 

This would represent a critical shift from cannabis's status as a Schedule I substance, which deems marijuana as not having any medical benefits and places the plant in the same category as high-risk drugs like heroin.

Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine, reports Bloomberg, said in the letter that her recommendation was based on a Food and Drug Administration review of marijuana’s classification, as promised following President Biden’s October pardon of federal offenses of simple possession. Around that time, Biden asked the HHS secretary and the U.S. Attorney General to undertake a review of how marijuana is scheduled under federal law. 

Why It Matters

Marijuana’s current classification as a Schedule I substance is among the main reasons why cannabis companies remain deprived of banking access, medical research and interstate transport of products that are legal for medical purposes across dozens of US states. Despite this widespread acceptance of medical marijuana, only the FDA has the federal authority to approve drugs for medicinal use across the U.S.

Bloomberg noted that the HHS and DEA did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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