What Schedule III Really Means For Cannabis Industry And Consumers, Congressional Experts Explain

What are the legal consequences of rescheduling cannabis to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA)?

Now that President Joe Biden has announced that his administration is officially moving to reschedule marijuana under federal law, followed by the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Attorney General Merrick Garland formally initiating the rescheduling process with the submission of a legal review, let's take a look at what Congressional Research Service's experts said in their recent report.

Even though cannabis companies and legalization advocates overwhelmingly welcomed cannabis reform efforts "moving marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III, without other legal changes, would not bring the state-legal medical or recreational marijuana industry into compliance with federal controlled substances law," according to a report published on May 1.

See also: ATA Red-Flags DOJ’s Proposed Marijuana Policy Change

Why?

While Schedule III classification would deem cannabis as having an accepted medical use, it would need the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) approval to be legally dispensed with a prescription. At the moment, marijuana is not an FDA-approved drug, experts highlighted in their recent analysis. But, some drugs that are related to /or are derived from cannabis like Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc's Epidiolex are green-lighted by the federal regulatory body.

In the event of receiving FDA approval, manufacturers and distributors of a marijuana product would have to register with DEA and be compliant with Schedule III regulatory requirements.

"Users of medical marijuana would need to obtain valid prescriptions for the substance from medical providers, subject to federal legal requirements that differ from existing state regulatory requirements for medical marijuana," the congressional researchers added.

Federal Vs. State Law

Meanwhile, rescheduling marijuana would not affect the medical marijuana appropriations rider, safeguarding those operating the state-legal medical marijuana industry who comply with state law from federal prosecution.

The researchers also emphasized production, distribution and possession of recreational marijuana would remain illegal under federal law if it ends up deemed as a Schedule III substance.

In a separate report published on May 2, the congressional researchers shed light on "the current marijuana law and policy gap between the federal government and most states," and a myriad of related topics such as financial services and federal tax issues for businesses and oversight of federal law enforcement and its role in enforcing federal marijuana laws, to name a few.

Recent Update

Earlier this week, both reports were updated.

The updated report noted "The rider does not remove criminal liability; it merely prevents enforcement of the CSA in certain circumstances. As the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has explained, if Congress repealed the appropriations rider, DOJ would be able to prosecute violations of the CSA that occurred while the rider was in effect, subject to the applicable statute of limitations."

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