Federal Cannabis Rescheduling to Expand Research Opportunities for Florida Patients
DEA hearing on federal cannabis rescheduling could unlock new research opportunities for Florida medical marijuana patients and physicians.
TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA — The Drug Enforcement Administration will hold a hearing later this month to consider the broader federal rescheduling of cannabis, following U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche’s April order to reclassify state-licensed medical marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III.
Florida medical marijuana industry representatives say the rescheduling will expand research opportunities for physicians and patients, although observers note that direct effects of the federal policy change remain limited.
Removing Research Barriers
“Under Schedule I, there is all of this bureaucracy, and it is very difficult for researchers to be able to use actual products. In fact, they can’t. They can only use whole plant that was homogenized in one of the very few DEA licensed Schedule I marijuana facilities, which were in no way representative of the actual products that Americans are using under state legal programs across the country,” Trulieve CEO Kim Rivers told the Florida Phoenix.
Rivers explained that the reclassification will allow researchers to access actual medical marijuana products used by patients. “Now researchers will be able to access those products and begin doing trials using those products so that we can get better information so that patients and physicians can better understand and have dosing guidance,” she said.
Product Development Advances
The rescheduling will also help marijuana companies develop new products, according to Rivers. She cited a specific example of how current federal restrictions have limited research capabilities.
“There is a product on the shelf — it’s a time-release product that we believe could be very effective for specific conditions — but we had no way of doing blood draws to be able to make a statement that this product stays at constant levels over a certain time horizon. And so, it’s very exciting for the future to give us more real data,” Rivers said.
Federal Policy Timeline
The DEA’s upcoming hearing follows Attorney General Blanche’s directive from April that moved state-licensed medical marijuana products from Schedule I to Schedule III under federal drug classifications. Schedule I substances are considered to have no accepted medical use and high potential for abuse, while Schedule III drugs are recognized as having accepted medical uses with moderate to low potential for physical dependence.
The federal rescheduling affects medical marijuana programs operating in states across the country, including Florida’s established medical cannabis system. Florida has operated a legal medical marijuana program since 2016, serving thousands of registered patients through licensed dispensaries statewide.
