What the federal marijuana policy shift means for cannabis use and research

Amna Nawaz:

Well, President Trump signed an executive order today reclassifying the federal status of marijuana, categorizing it as a drug with less potential for harm and dependence.

Geoff Bennett:

It's a major shift in policy that could have wide-ranging effects on cannabis use and research.

William Brangham joins us now with more.

William Brangham:

That's right.

For many years, marijuana was a Schedule I drug in a category with heroin and LSD, meaning the government considered it dangerous to use with no medical benefits. Today's move will slide marijuana down into Schedule III with drugs like Tylenol with codeine and testosterone.

While this doesn't legalize marijuana, this shift would allow for greater research about the drug, which is something President Trump touted during his announcement today.

President Donald Trump:

This reclassification order will make it far easier to conduct marijuana-related medical research, allowing us to study benefits, potential dangers and future treatments. It's going to have a tremendously positive impact, I believe.

William Brangham:

So for more on this policy shift, we are joined again by Beau Kilmer. He's with the RAND Drug Policy Research Center.

Beau, thank you so much for being here again.

Let's walk through some of the impacts of this shift, the first one being research. We just heard the president say this is going to open up the floodgates for new scientific research. Is that true? What kind of research will they be doing? What kind of questions might scientists be asking?

Beau Kilmer, RAND Drug Policy Research Center:

Yes, well, so you can do research on Schedule I drugs, but there's a lot of paperwork and a lot of hoops you need to jump through.

So, traditionally, when you would move from a Schedule I to a Schedule III drug, it would mean less bureaucracy to deal with, and it should increase access to research. However, the Congressional Research Service put out a report last year saying that, because of a law, that they didn't think that rescheduling cannabis was actually going to have that much of an effect on research because of this bill that had already been signed into law.

Now, look, on the margins, this could increase access for research and maybe it will reduce the stigma for some researchers. But the bigger question I have is, who's going to pay for the research? Typically, the National Institutes of Health would support a lot of this research as trying to figure out the benefits and the risks associated with cannabis.

And so the question is, will there — will NIH continue to fund this research? Will they prioritize it? Will they put more money into it? That to me is the bigger question.

William Brangham:

And what do you think, any other major shifts this categorization change might trigger?

Beau Kilmer:

Oh, it's going to make some cannabis companies a lot richer.

As part of the federal tax code, there's a section called 280(e). And essentially what this — which this part of the code requires is that, if you are trafficking in a Schedule I or a Schedule II drug, you can't claim normal business exemptions on your federal taxes. And so that means there's quite a burden for these cannabis companies.

But by moving cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III, that 280(e) part of the tax code no longer applies. So the cannabis companies are going to be very happy with this shift.

William Brangham:

President Trump today said he didn't want this to be seen as condoning the use of marijuana, which he kept saying is bad, kids, don't do it. Do we know if that is true? I mean, we have had all these states legalizing recreational marijuana. Do we know, is it a net benefit to society? Are there are there downstream health impacts?

Beau Kilmer:

Yes.

I mean, we're still learning a lot about the products that are being sold in stores. That is, most of the health research that goes on with respect to cannabis isn't necessarily focused on the products that you would get in the dispensaries.

So there are — there's a lot of research that still needs to be done in terms of the potential benefits, as well as the risks.

William Brangham:

Do you have a sense as to why this has taken so long? I mean, drug policy advocates have also argued for this for a long time. Many other administrations said they would get to this, never did. Are you surprised it happened during the Trump administration?

Beau Kilmer:

Well, look, I mean, people have been debating rescheduling in dorm rooms and dinner parties for decades.

But it was actually during the Biden administration that they began to make this move toward rescheduling. And there are two ways to reschedule drugs. You can either pass legislation or you could go through the executive agencies, and it requires input from the Department of Health and Human Services, as well as the DEA.

And so this process was started during the Biden administration. Health and Human Services put out this report. And then the DEA put into the Federal Register that they were going to be considering this. And then, based on that, there was, I think, over 40,000 public comments, and then there were supposed to be some hearings.

And then, in theory, after those hearings, then the DEA would make a decision and then put that into the Federal Register. Well, over the past couple of years, things got really hung up with those hearings. So it's not entirely clear to me what's going to happen.

Are we going to skip those and just go right to the DEA putting something into the Federal Register about it being reclassified to Schedule III, or will there be hearings, where policymakers, as well as the public, will hear more about the health implications of cannabis?

William Brangham:

Is it your sense that this change might prompt more states to legalize recreational or medicinal use?

Beau Kilmer:

I don't know. I mean, we already have about 40 states that allow cannabis to be used for certain medical purposes. And about half the states have passed legalization for adult use.

Moving from Schedule I to Schedule III, the big change there is, it — to be a Schedule III drug, it means that the federal government actually recognizes that there's medical value. Now, whether or not that shift from I to III is enough to kind of move public sentiment enough to where you're going to get more of these bills passed or initiatives passed in different states, I'm not entirely sure.

But this — I mean, the thing to keep in mind is that this isn't going to legalize what's happening at the state level. I mean, everything you see with respect to medical legalization, as well as adult use legalization, this is still all illegal under federal law.

And just moving from Schedule I to Schedule III doesn't necessarily make these things and make any of this activity legal in the eyes of the federal government.

William Brangham:

All right, that is Beau Kilmer at the RAND Drug Policy Research Center.

Beau, thank you so much for being here.

Beau Kilmer:

Thanks for having me, William.