The federal government just made one of the most significant changes to U.S. drug policy in decades. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche signed an order Thursday reclassifying state-licensed medical marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III, delivering on a promiseTrumpmade to his administration back in December.
"This rescheduling action allows for research on the safety and efficacy of this substance, ultimately providing patients with better care and doctors with more reliable information," Blanche said in a statement, adding that the Justice Department was "delivering on President Trump's promise" to expand Americans' access to medical treatment options.
That classification has frustrated advocates for years, who have long argued that lumping cannabis in with heroin made no sense given that 40 states had already built out functioning medical marijuana programs.
Moving medical marijuana into this category carries real, practical consequences for patients, businesses, and researchers.
For cannabis businesses, the shift is financially significant. Until now, because marijuana was Schedule I, licensed cannabis companies could not deduct standard business expenses on their federal taxes. That left many of them paying effective tax rates that made running a profitable operation genuinely difficult. That changes now.
For researchers, the path to studying cannabis gets considerably clearer. The order explicitly states that researchers will not face penalties for obtaining state-licensed marijuana or marijuana-derived products for use in their work. Previously, the Schedule I classification created serious barriers to conducting thorough medical research on cannabis.
For state medical marijuana programs, Blanche's order largely legitimizes the frameworks that 40 states have already built. It sets up a system for state-licensed producers and distributors to register with the Drug Enforcement Administration.
One important limit: marijuana that is not distributed through a state-licensed medical program stays in Schedule I. This reclassification applies specifically to licensed medical marijuana.
Thursday's order was the result.
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