Federal Scientists Conclude There is Credible Evidence for Certain Medical Uses of Marijuana

Politico | By Natalie Fertig

The Department of Health and Human Services concluded that marijuana is less harmful than other dangerous drugs and that there is some evidence of its medical benefits in recommending loosening federal restrictions on the drug.

The agency on Friday released a 252-page review outlining the reasoning that the Food and Drug Administration used to come to this conclusion. This and the other findings of the review are a major departure in how the federal government views cannabis. For the last 60-plus years, cannabis has been classified as a Schedule I drug — the same as heroin — under the Controlled Substances Act, which means it’s a substance of high abuse potential and no accepted medical use.

The review was conducted at the request of President Joe Biden, who instructed HHS in an executive order issued in October 2022 to look through all available research on cannabis and recommend if the drug should be moved within the list of federally controlled drugs or removed from it altogether. Bloomberg first reported in August that HHS had recommended marijuana be moved to Schedule III, and the release of these documents on Friday confirms that.

 

The Drug Enforcement Administration will have the final say in any changes to marijuana’s classification under federal law, with a decision expected in the coming months.

The documents were released to cannabis lawyers Matt Zorn and Shane Pennington and published on their blog On Drugs. The documents were released as a result of a lawsuit brought by Zorn and Pennington.

Cannabis legalization has spread rapidly across the country over the last decade. Two dozen states — representing more than half the U.S population — have legalized possession and use for adults, while 38 states have established medical marijuana programs.

The cannabis review was based on eight different scientific criteria, including its potential for abuse, the state of current scientific knowledge and the likelihood of psychological or physiological dependence.