Marijuana’s Schedule I status is being challenged once again. Two Florida congressmen proposed a bill on April 6, that would reschedule cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Federal Controlled Substance Act, The Cannabist reports. Democratic Rep. Darren Soto and Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz are teaming up to sponsor the bill.
“Floridians have spoken and Medical Marijuana is the law of the land. It’s now time for the federal government to recognize this emerging law and the well-known medical benefits of marijuana” Congressman Soto, in the official press release.
Floridians aren’t the only people who have accepted cannabis in their state. Nine states have legal recreational marijuana laws and 28 (including Florida,) have medicinal marijuana laws. The unnamed bill, if it passes, will open more channels for legal research, allow full access to banking and make it easier for patients to get medicinal marijuana, Gaetz said in an interview with The Cannabist.
Making marijuana schedule III would force the federal government to recognize marijuana’s medicinal benefits. Putting it on the same level as substances like Tylenol, ketamine, and steroids, per The Controlled Substance Act. Tylenol is widely accepted for everyday use for things like headaches. Ketamine is a tranquilizer that gained popularity in clubs and raves, now, it’s being experimented with in clinical trials as a powerful anti-depressant, according to NPR.
Cannabis is already being used to treat a myriad of ailments including: depression, epilepsy, anxiety, inflammation, and many others, per Leafly. But, you have a medical marijuana license to get prescribed marijuana. Making cannabis a schedule III drug wouldn’t allow primary care doctors to prescribe marijuana like they would Tylenol, according to Chris De Villeneuve, Executive Director of the Student Medical and Counseling Clinic at CWU.
The bodies that govern primary care physicians like the Accreditation Association of Ambulatory Health and the American Psychological Association don’t believe cannabis’s attributes warrant it being prescribed on a regular basis, De Villeneuve explained.
“Research doesn’t back it up.” De Villeneuve said.
De Villeneuve believes tax revenue is the real driving force behind states expanding cannabis rights, “which is good,” De Villeneuve adds. But more clinical research is needed before primary care doctors could prescribe it to their patients.
Washington’s Liquor and Cannabis Board (LCB,) started allowing companies to apply for marijuana research licenses in January, after the Drug Enforcement Agency decided to keep cannabis’s schedule I designation, The News Tribune reports.
The LCB decided to circumvent federal research regulations because it puts Washington in an advantageous position to spearhead research for the country, and secures the state’s intellectual property, if or when cannabis becomes federally legal. Washington could make royalties if trademarked growing or processing methods are used in other states. Also, federal regulations make it nearly impossible to implement research findings, Jessica Tonani, CEO of Verda bio explains. Verda Bio is a marijuana research company in Seattle.
“It would be awesome to open up the research gates,” Tonani said.
Currently, all the marijuana the federal government uses for research is grown at the University of Mississippi. This is problematic, because the cannabis being researched isn’t grown the same, and has a different chemical make-up, Tonani said. Basically, it isn’t nearly as good as Washington’s weed. It doesn’t make sense to apply research findings from cannabis that consumers aren’t consuming, Tonani explained. Research licenses were not issued in January, which were the hopes originally. She thinks they’ll be ready this Summer.
Full access to banking is another puzzle the industry must solve. Out of 13,000 banks and credit unions, only 105 serve the cannabis industry Marijuana Business Daily reports.
Marijuana is federally illegal and then banks are federally owned, Dayne Haddon said. Haddon is an employee at The Fire House, a pot shop in Ellensburg, Washington. Jena Eggelston also works at The Fire House. The Fire House name can’t be associated in any way with its profits, it all has to go through a different name, Eggelston explained.
“They just don’t wanna work with you,” Haddon added.
Salal Credit Union is one of the few places offering banking services to the industry. Based out of Seattle, they offer a full gamut of services, like direct deposit, cash pick-up, and online banking. Senator Elizabeth Warren is a member of the Senate Banking Committee. She’s pushing the banking industry to do business with the cannabis industry because she wants absolute transparency with billions of dollars exchanging hands, The Hill reports. This will ensure all the correct tax amounts are paid and nobody is skirting payments.
There is no word yet as to when Gaetz and Soto’s bill will be voted on.
