OPEN MINDS

WHAT RESCHEDULING WILL MEAN FOR MEDICINAL CANNABIS RESEARCH

- DAMIEN MARTIN

Humans have been using cannabis for thousands of years, but there's still plenty about the plant and its effects that we don't understand. Since its inclusion on Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act in 1970, research on drugs derived from cannabis has been difficult. While cannabis use remains federally illegal, it's approved for medical use in 38 states and for recreational use in 24. That's has provided a growing body of evidence for cannabis' medicinal properties, but research remains heavily restricted. With the DEA moving to reclassify it to Schedule III, that could change.

"The public health use of cannabis has gone far ahead of what we know from the research. We're really at this point trying to play catch-up," David Shurtleff, deputy director of the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, told STAT. "The real issue here is getting access to diverse products that are being used by the public."

SCHEDULES

The move stands to be the most significant change in cannabis' federal legal status since 1970, when it was placed on Schedule I, a label that indicates high potential for abuse with no accepted medical use. It sits on Schedule I alongside heroin, LSD, peyote, and ecstasy. But since 1996, when California's Compassionate Use Act made it the first U.S. state to pass medical marijuana legislation, dozens of states have acknowledged the medical efficacy of cannabis.

Despite warnings that cannabis is a "gateway drug," research and data have shown that its potential for abuse is much lower and its medicinal properties much higher than a Schedule I classification warrants. On Schedule III, cannabis will be alongside ketamine, Tylenol with codeine, testosterone, and anabolic steroids. The argument that reclassifying cannabis to Schedule III doesn't go far enough and that it should be legalized federally is growing in popularity, even in the halls of Congress.