If you have been following the news on the potential rescheduling of marijuana, you probably know that the process has been stalled in administrative court for months. What should have taken place before Joe Biden left office now looks as though it might not happen at all. Yet in the midst of all the administrative chaos, Congress still has the power to reschedule marijuana on its own.
That begs the question of why they haven’t done so. The answers to that question are many and varied. While pundits discuss it and bloggers write about it, medical cannabis patients and recreational users alike wonder what the fate of the controversial plant will ultimately be.
Marijuana and the Controlled Substances Act
The Controlled Substances Act is a 1970 law that created a legal framework for regulating drugs and other substances that carry certain risks of dependence and abuse. The legislation combined existing drug laws into a single package and gave the Justice Department expanded regulatory powers.
Congress scheduled a number of substances themselves when creating the legislation. Marijuana was one of them. It was placed on Schedule I, meaning it has no medicinal value but a high potential for dependence and abuse. Marijuana has been on Schedule I ever since.
Rescheduling for Medical Purposes
Though there is a robust debate over whether marijuana should be completely legalized for recreational purposes, there is more of a consensus for rescheduling it for medical purposes. In fact, the prevalence of medical cannabis was one of the motivations for investigating rescheduling under the Biden administration.
It is no longer an issue of whether cannabis has medicinal value. More than three dozen states have approved its use as a medicine because evidence shows it works. Utah is one of those states.
At Beehive Farmacy, a medical cannabis pharmacy with locations in Salt Lake City and Brigham City, pain is the number one condition for which patients seek out medical cannabis. Both clinical and anecdotal evidence support its efficacy for chronic and acute pain. So the only question remaining for regulators is whether marijuana carries with it an unreasonable risk of abuse and dependence.
We Already Know About Opioids
Medical cannabis advocates frequently point out that chronic pain patients are able to reduce or eliminate opioid consumption after switching to medical cannabis. The irony is this: we already know that opioids are highly addictive, yet they are not on Schedule I. Government regulators believe they can be used responsibly under the care of a physician. Why is medical cannabis any different?
I understand lawmaker reservations about giving the green light to recreational consumption. We already have enough problems with alcohol and illicit drugs. Why add cannabis to the mix? But from a medical perspective, there does not seem to be any legitimate reason to prevent rescheduling.
The Issue With Congress
Rescheduling being stalled in administrative court brings us back to the idea of Congress rescheduling marijuana on its own. It has the constitutional authority to do so. Furthermore, a recent report from the Congressional Research Service suggests Congress can do it much more quickly and avoid serious legal review. So why don’t they?
Lawmakers have been unable to agree for decades on how to move forward with cannabis. A majority of lawmakers would like to see reform in some manner or shape, but they cannot agree on what that reform should look like. So the idea of rescheduling remains stalled.
I was pretty optimistic rescheduling would take place last year. I now wonder if it will ever happen at all.
