U.S. Attorney General reclassifies state-licensed medical cannabis

The acting U.S. attorney general on Thursday signed an order reclassifying state-licensed medical marijuana as a less-dangerous drug, a major policy shift long sought by advocates who said cannabis should never have been treated like heroin by the federal government (Source: “Trump reclassifies state-licensed medical marijuana as a less-dangerous drug in a historic shift,” Associated Press, April 23).
 
The order signed by Todd Blanche does not legalize cannabis for medical or recreational use under federal law. But it does change the way it’s regulated, shifting licensed medical marijuana from Schedule I — reserved for drugs without medical use and with high potential for abuse — to the less strictly regulated Schedule III. It also gives licensed medical marijuana operators a major tax break and eases some barriers to researching cannabis.
 
The Trump administration also said it was jump-starting the process for reclassifying marijuana more broadly, setting a hearing to begin in late June.