Joe Biden may soon let medical companies develop cannabis-based medicines

The U.S. Department of Drug Enforcement and Administration (DEA) is working to reclassify cannabis as a lower-risk drug — something cannabis activists have sought for decades. Reclassification could loosen research restrictions around marijuana’s possible health benefits and lead to the development of cannabis-based medicinal products to treat things like advanced HIV, seizures, anxiety, anorexia, chronic pain, and more.

Right now, the DEA classifies cannabis as a Schedule I drug “with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse,” alongside other drugs like heroin, LSD, and peyote. The administration of President Joe Biden recently directed the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to ask the DEA to consider reclassifying it as a Schedule III drug with “moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence,” alongside drugs like low-dose codeine, ketamine, and anabolic steroids.

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The rescheduling must first be approved by the Office of Management and Budget and undergo a public comment period, according to Vox. As such, reclassification could take over a year to complete and possibly be stopped by Donald Trump if he defeats Biden in the upcoming November election.

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Reclassification wouldn’t automatically legalize weed, but it could reduce criminal penalties around the drug, relax financial laws that restrict cannabis businesses, and loosen legal restrictions for researching the drug’s medicinal benefits. Increased research will help drug companies develop products to treat a variety of medical issues, like inflammation, chronic pain, anxiety, and loss of appetite.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) would need to approve these new products before they became widely available. Some states with anti-cannabis laws could prevent their sale, leading some residents to possibly travel out-of-state or smuggle the products into the state.

Cannabis’s classification as a Schedule I drug has resulted in the denial of taxpayer funds for researchers curious about its medical properties, as well as numerous legal restrictions to get studies approved in the first place. Despite this, 38 states have already approved access to medical marijuana.

Various cannabis-based products in these states — like edibles, liquid extracts, hash oil, and smokeable flowers —are marketed as ways to treat a variety of medical conditions. These products aren’t treated like prescription medications yet, allowing companies to make somewhat untested claims about their benefits and allowing anyone to purchase them without a doctor’s order, though some states do offer reduced prices to buyers who have registered for medical cannabis use.

Researchers believe that cannabis’s medical benefits come from terpenes, naturally occurring chemical compounds in the drug. Terpenes — like THC and CBD, the compounds associated with the drug’s psychological and physical effects, respectively — affect the drug’s scent, taste, and appearance. They’re also believed to have subtle effects on muscles, nerves, and the brain; effects which will be better understood after decades of research restrictions.

The U.S. Congress criminalized cannabis in 1937, partly in response to anti-immigrant sentiment against Mexican job-seekers vilified for publicly smoking it during the Great Depression. In 1976, then-President Richard Nixon rejected a congressional commission’s suggestion to decriminalize it. Afterward, a growing conservative anti-drug movement sought to toughen legal penalties around cannabis, claiming it was a “gateway drug” that led young people to try more addictive substances.

During the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s, LGBTQ+ activists fought for legalization as a way to treat the painful symptoms of advanced HIV. These days, cannabis legalization activists have fought for the drug to be descheduled rather than rescheduled, something that would largely decriminalize it and put its sale and use under government regulation, like alcohol.

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