Rescheduling of Marijuana may revolutionize industry
Move Would Recognize Medical Uses, Transform Industry, and Impact Patients.
The U.S. government has put in motion the first steps toward rescheduling marijuana, currently a Schedule 1 drug in the same category as heroin and methamphetamine (and above Schedule 2 drugs like fentanyl), and making it instead a Schedule 3 drug, alongside things like ketamine and codeine cough syrup.
The major change that most people would notice with the rescheduling would be the recognition of marijuana as having medical uses. This would open up the drug for study on a level so far unseen in the U.S.
Kittrick Jeffries, owner of Puffy’s, a South Dakota cannabis company, called the move to reschedule marijuana “a monumental moment for the cannabis industry.”
“The federal government has finally formally announced that there are therapeutic and medical benefits to marijuana,” said Jeffries.
This is of course an ongoing process. Jeffries spoke on this too.
“I think it’s just going to be kind of as long as it takes. It does have to go to the White House Office of Budget Management, which would take anywhere up to six months — there is an opportunity for public comment — then the FDA will then formally start a rules promulgation process,” Jeffries said.
In all, we’re likely looking into 2025 before any real impact is made from the rescheduling, but as Jeffries said, the impact could be monumental.
As Jeffries puts it, “we get treated like a normal business.”
Due to marijuana’s nature as a schedule 1 drug, there are many things off limits to cannabis businesses.
The first thing that would become available for marijuana businesses once rescheduling was complete would be tax savings.
“For those that don’t understand the marijuana business, we cannot deduct cost of goods sold from our taxes,” said Jeffries. “A normal business can deduct their labor and their rent and their utilities, among many other things. Cannabis businesses don’t have the luxury of doing that, and with the rescheduling of marijuana, that does benefit the businesses and does benefit the patients in the long run.”
Another potential benefit, following an act from congress, would be increased access to banking. “Cannabis companies would be able to take loans for vehicles or other critical infrastructure, such as commercial property and things like that, where we haven’t had the luxury to do that in the past,” said Jeffries.
Putting marijuana in the category of Schedule 3 drugs could also create more regulations for businesses if the drug is treated as a prescription medication.
“From my understanding of how the process is going to work, marijuana establishments across the country for medical purposes would have to register with the DEA,” said Jeffries. “Whether you’re cultivation, manufacturing, retail or a testing laboratory — [you] would register with the DEA and it wouldn’t be a recommendation anymore. It would then turn into a prescription.”
This could also make for quite a change for customers. If you cannabis can be truly prescribed, then it could also potentially be covered by insurance. No small advantage when a trip to a dispensary can run a patient anywhere in a range from $15 up to hundreds.
“Those are all questions that have to be answered by Congress and by the FDA through their rulemaking authority,” added Jeffries.
