Study Finds Broad American Support for Federal Rescheduling
Summarize
A study using artificial intelligence analyzed almost 43,000 comments people made concerning a proposal to reschedule cannabis from a Schedule I to a Schedule III drug. The public comments were made in 2024, when the Drug Enforcement Administration sought input on the proposed rescheduling. The researchers at Johns Hopkins University and the University of California, San Diego, found that most commenters supported the rescheduling of cannabis.
The federal government invites public comments as part of the rulemaking process. This gives people the opportunity to express their opinions. The analysis of the comments found that 63.5% supported further changes, and 28.9% supported rescheduling to Schedule III. Only 6.7% opposed the change.
The commenters included healthcare professionals, patients, and business owners. The researchers analyzed the motivations behind the opinions based on the public comments. John W. Ayers, Vice Chief of Innovation at UC San Diego School of Medicine, said,
“Rescheduling is a meaningful first step, but the public record shows Americans want federal policy to go further.”
Many of the commenters in favor of changing the cannabis scheduling believe cannabis should be descheduled and not controlled by the federal government. The reasons given were that cannabis has shown it delivers therapeutic benefits, and it has positive economic impacts. A third reason concerned the fact that marginalized communities have a higher incarceration rate compared to other communities, making cannabis scheduling a social justice issue.
One of the benefits of rescheduling cannabis is that the type of research can expand. Also, more scientists can research the effects of cannabis use on health. The commenters opposing the rescheduling had concerns about addiction, public health risks, and harm caused to children and teens.
An issue not solved by the cannabis rescheduling is the fact that state and local cannabis-related laws and regulations are frequently different from federal laws. The full impact of rescheduling on state laws is unpredictable at this point. The rescheduling mostly impacts medical marijuana providers, so that the cannabis rescheduling will help the medical marijuana industry through increased research and potential tax savings.
However, there is a new federal law effective in November 2026 that limits THC in products to the point that it makes most hemp-derived CBD products illegal. This law will reduce the competition the medical marijuana industry experiences by significantly reducing the availability of hemp-derived products with THC.
The two federal actions mean one industry, medical marijuana, will benefit, and another, hemp-derived CBD, will suffer.
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