(CNN) — Joe Biden’s government could reclassify marijuana as a lower-risk substance this Tuesday, a person with knowledge of the government plan told CNN. This is a historic initiative that recognizes the medical benefits of the long-criminalized drug and also has broad implications for cannabis-related research and the industry in general.
The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is expected to recommend that marijuana be reclassified as a Schedule III controlled substance, a classification shared by prescription drugs such as ketamine and Tylenol with codeine.
“[El Departamento de Justicia] continues working on this standard. We have no further comment at this time,” a government official said Tuesday.
The Justice Department declined to comment.
The historic move comes as Biden is running for re-election and seeking to shore up his support among younger voters.
The long-awaited recommendation will be reviewed by the White House Office of Management and Budget and will undergo a public comment period. Rescheduling would also potentially be subject to congressional approval.
For more than 50 years, marijuana has been classified as a Schedule I substance—alongside drugs like heroin and ecstasy, which are considered to have no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse—and subject to restrictions stricter.
The recommendation comes after the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) followed up on a thorough review by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). acronym in English) under the direction of President Joe Biden, who in 2022 sent a letter to the Department of Justice supporting the reclassification to List III.
Last fall, members of the FDA’s controlled substances staff wrote in documents that the agency recommended reclassifying marijuana because it meets three criteria: a lower potential for abuse than other Schedule I and II substances; a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the US; and a low or moderate risk of physical dependence in people who abuse it. The National Institute on Drug Abuse agreed with the recommendation.
Although marijuana has a “high prevalence of non-medical use” in the US, it does not appear to cause serious outcomes, compared with drugs such as heroin, oxycodone and cocaine, the researchers said. “This is especially notable given the availability” of products containing very high levels of Delta 9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main active compound in cannabis.
Twenty-four states, two territories and Washington have legalized recreational cannabis for adults, and 38 states allow medical use of cannabis products, according to data from the National Conference of State Legislatures. Since the first sale of adult-use cannabis in 2014 in Colorado, cannabis has become the center of a multibillion-dollar industry that has attracted the attention of multinational companies in sectors such as alcohol, agriculture, pharmaceuticals and tobacco. .
Removing marijuana from Schedule I could open more avenues for research, relax some of the most harshly punitive criminal consequences, allow cannabis businesses to bank more freely and openly, and remove companies from being subject to to a 40-year-old tax code that does not allow credits and deductions from income generated by sales of Schedule I and II substances.
However, reclassifying marijuana will not resolve that federal-state conflict, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) noted in a Jan. 16 report. The manufacturing, distribution, and possession of recreational marijuana would remain illegal under federal law and would likely be subject to law enforcement and prosecution regardless of state legality, the CRS wrote.
States with medical marijuana programs currently have some federal protections through credit legislation that limits the Department of Justice from interfering in those programs. List III status will not affect that clause, the CRS said.
In October 2022, Biden asked Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and Attorney General Merrick Garland to begin the administrative process of reviewing the classification of marijuana in federal law.
The Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, better known as the Farm Bill, defined and uncontrolled hemp and hemp-derived cannabidiol and removed it from the definition of marijuana—and from regulatory control—under the Controlled Substances Act. . The FDA’s scientific and medical evaluation of marijuana did not address products containing plant-derived CBD.
CNN’s Meg Tirrell and Jacqueline Howard contributed to this report
