Will the DEA Choose to Reschedule Marijuana this Summer?

Will the DEA ever decide to reschedule marijuana from a Schedule I drug with “no medicinal value?”

Update: The content below is from 2016, but as of October 2023, the DEA still has not rescheduled marijuana – even after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) recently recommended to the Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”) that marijuana be reclassified from a Schedule I controlled substance to a Schedule III controlled substance.

The list of states that have decriminalized marijuana for medical use is growing, but there are still many rules and stipulations which make it incredibly expensive and difficult for patients to actually get their hands on cannabis. Marijuana’s classification as a Schedule I drug has been a major hurdle for drug researchers seeking to understand the full benefits of the herb, but that might change in a few short months.

The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) announced in a lengthy memo to lawmakers that it hopes to decide whether to change the federal status of marijuana “in the first half of 2016.”

Schedule I drugs are classified as such because they have “no medical use and a high potential for abuse.” These substances are considered to be “the most dangerous drugs of all the drug schedules with potentially severe psychological or physical dependence.”

Other drugs in this category include heroin and LSD. And as ridiculous as it sounds, marijuana is more heavily regulated than opioid painkillers, which have killed more than 165,000 people since 1999. [1] [2]

When and if marijuana ever kills somebody, believe me, I will write about it.

Read: Marijuana Overdoses Remain At Zero After 2014 And Legalizations

People with conditions that could be potentially treated with marijuana have been calling on the DEA to reschedule the drug, but so, too, have organizations such as the American Medical Association (AMA), and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). There is simply too much evidence of marijuana’s healing power to ignore. In fact, a 2014 survey by WebMD and Medscape found that 56% of doctors approve of medical marijuana.

The DEA has put off rescheduling marijuana for years, in one case overriding the recommendation of its own administrative judge. Former governors Christine Gregoire of Washington and Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island initiated the current petition before the DEA in 2011, and the agency said last September that it has all the information it needs to make a decision.

A Shift to Schedule II

Marijuana could be downgraded from a Schedule I drug to a Schedule II drug. It could stand to be downgraded even further – cocaine is also a Schedule II drug. But rescheduling weed would be beneficial to researchers.

Currently, all the marijuana grown for research purposes is cultivated by the University of Mississippi, a letter from the DEA obtained by The Huffington Post shows. As of 2015, this included only 20 shipments to 8 researchers.

The AMA says that the Schedule I status would be reviewed “with the goal of facilitating the conduct of clinical research and development of cannabinoid-based medicines.”

The DEA is considering rescheduling marijuana thanks to the urging of a group of Democratic senators, including Elizabeth Warren and Kirsten Gillbrand, which asked the agency and other federal bodies to initiate a research strategy due to the growing pool of medical marijuana users.

But the DEA may face an internal hurdle of its own: agency head Chuck Rosenberg, who said, foolishly and ignorantly in November:

“What really bothers me is the notion that marijuana is also medicinal — because it’s not. We can have an intellectually honest debate about whether we should legalize something that is bad and dangerous, but don’t call it medicine — that is a joke.” [3]

Read: Marijuana can Combat Cancer, Admits the U.S. National Cancer Institute

It’s time for Rosenberg to sift through existing research and kick the marijuana stigma to the curb. Twenty-three states in the U.S. and the District of Columbia have legalized medical marijuana. Rosenberg’s comments angered a lot of people, and tens of thousands of individuals signed a petition demanding the DEA head’s resignation.

2016 Update: What the DEA’s Failure to Reschedule Marijuana Means for Research

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) said it would not reschedule marijuana from a Schedule I drug to a Schedule II drug. However, the agency said it would try to make it easier for scientists and companies to access marijuana for research.

scientist seeking to research pot for medical purposes had to obtain a special license through several federal agencies, including the DEA.

Obtaining a special license was especially frustrating for scientists, because they had to prove marijuana was medically beneficial before they could even study it, which made no sense whatsoever.

The agency – which had previously said the demand for research-grade marijuana was “relatively limited” – acknowledged last week that there is, in fact, a heavy demand, without saying it directly.

The DEA wrote:

“DEA has concluded the best way to satisfy the current researcher demand for a variety of strains of marijuana and cannabinoid extracts is to increase the number of federally authorized marijuana growers.”

How Does This Change the Game?

The DEA will invite marijuana growers other than the University of Mississippi to apply for licenses, though the number will be limited and the rules for qualifying will be stringent. That could mean that big growers will be put out of business, as the agency will likely favor manufacturers that have followed its rules and have a proven track record working with controlled substances.

Big agricultural and pharmaceutical companies who have mulled the idea of getting into the marijuana business but wanted to see what direction the DEA took may become growers. The DEA’s new policy is intended to allow companies seeking to market specific strains of pot as prescription drugs to start developing products.

The agency wrote:

“Under the new approach, should the state of scientific knowledge advance in the future such that a marijuana-derived drug is shown to be safe and effective for medical use, pharmaceutical firms will have a legal means of producing such drugs in the United States — independent of the [federal government] contracting process.”

What Does this Mean for Marijuana Users?

If you live in a state where medical marijuana is legal, it doesn’t mean much, except that if you live in a state where it is notoriously hard to get, it’s probably going to stay that way, at least for now.

Had the DEA rescheduled marijuana (the agency still considers it more dangerous than cocaine and meth), it would have made medical marijuana legal nationwide.

The agency hasn’t offered a timeline for when it might reconsider rescheduling marijuana again, so don’t expect major changes anytime soon.

Sources:

[1] The Times-Picayne

[2] Tech Times

[3] NY Daily News