Marijuana Has Medical Value
Support the Reclassification of Marijuana
What does it mean?
The SO-year-old drug scheduling system includes both FDA-regulated pharmaceuticals and street drugs. Currently, marijuana is classified as a Schedule 1 Drug, meaning it is more tightly restricted than fentanyl, which is Schedule 2 Drug that causes tens of thousands of fatal overdoses annually. (Marijuana has never caused an overdose death.) As a Schedule 1 Drug, marijuana is labeled just as dangerous as heroin and more dangerous than cocaine. Schedule 1 Drugs are presumed to have no medical value and a high potential for abuse. This scheduling of marijuana never made sense, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has recommended that it be reclassified from Schedule 1 to Schedule 3 within the Controlled Substances Act. Marc supports that recommendation.
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Why Does It Matter?
Moving marijuana to Schedule 3 would be a belated, but welcome, acknowledgment by the federal government that marijuana has medical value, and would trigger much-needed medical research that has been prevented by its status as a Schedule 1 Drug. It would also end the application of a tax rule known as 280E to state-licensed dispensaries. That rule prohibits organizations that sell Schedule 1 or Schedule 2 Drugs from deducting otherwise legitimate business expenses on their tax returns, pushing their effective tax rate far higher than that for other U.S. businesses.
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The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has recommended that marijuana be reclassified from Schedule 1 to Schedule 3 within the Controlled Substances Act. Marc supports that recommendation.
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