If you are a medical cannabis user who follows the news, you’re probably aware that the Biden administration initiated the process of rescheduling marijuana a couple of years ago. Many experts predicted rescheduling would take place before the close of 2024. That hasn’t happened. However, the current administration is at least considering getting it done.
What would rescheduling mean to medical cannabis users? It is hard to say. There are a lot of opinions floating around. Below is a selection of the most commonly asked questions among medical cannabis users in relation to rescheduling. I have also provided the most likely answers based on a plethora of research and my knowledge of the current situation.
1. Would rescheduling lead to insurance coverage?
Insurance coverage is a thorn in the side of most medical cannabis patients. There are some very limited instances in which insurance carriers will reimburse their patients for cannabis-related expenses. But by a large, patients must pay for their medical cannabis out-of-pocket.
That could change with rescheduling. However, any changes would likely be a long time coming. It seems more likely that insurance companies would not even consider covering medical cannabis until a more formal FDA approval process were in place.
2. Would rescheduling remove all federal prohibitions?
No, moving marijuana to Schedule II or III would only change how Washington regulates cannabis. Rescheduling does not make a drug 100% legal under any and all circumstances. Moving marijuana to a lesser schedule would open the door to loosening restrictions on medical cannabis only. Recreational marijuana would still be illegal.
3. Would rescheduling make cannabis available via prescription?
Rescheduling would open the door to prescription cannabis but not automatically create it. Why? Because doctors can only write prescriptions for FDA-approved medicines. Pharmaceutical and cannabis companies would have to go through the rigorous process of submitting cannabis drugs for approval. At the pace at which the FDA currently conducts business, it could be a decade or more before any prescription medications are approved.
4. Would rescheduling lead to medical cannabis sales in traditional pharmacies?
Because rescheduling would not immediately change the current recommendation-prescription model, it is unlikely that medical cannabis would start showing up on traditional pharmacy shelves. Specialized medical cannabis pharmacies, like Brigham City, Utah’s Beehive Farmacy, would continue to handle the lion’s share of the business.Â
5. How would rescheduling impact states’ rights?
The question of rescheduling and states’ rights is a tricky one. Moving marijuana to a lesser schedule does not change the states’ collective responsibility to ensure any laws they pass do not conflict with federal statutes.
The fact is that green-lighting medical cannabis and recreational marijuana is already in conflict with federal law. The only reason states get away with it is because Congress refuses to allow the DOJ to spend money on enforcement. None of this changes with rescheduling.
6. How would rescheduling impact patients?
In the short term, rescheduling cannabis would have very little impact on medical cannabis patients. But it could lead to big changes in the long term. Rescheduling certainly opens the door to Big Pharma involvement. And if that happens, it is probably only a matter of time before patients start using cannabis medications rather than commercially produced cannabis vapes, gummies, etc.
There is no guarantee that the Trump administration will get rescheduling done. But if it does come, don’t expect wholesale changes overnight. Any changes resulting from rescheduling will be years off. If the administration doesn’t get it done, things will continue on as they currently are. Whether that is good or bad is up to you.