As November’s midterm elections approach, cannabis reform is surfacing as a political issue across party lines, with ballot initiatives in Massachusetts and Idaho and gubernatorial debates in states including Kansas and Iowa.
Since 1996, 40 states and the District of Columbia have legalized either medical or recreational adult-use marijuana, yet cannabis remains a federally illegal Schedule I drug under the 1970 Controlled Substances Act. President Donald Trump urged the Justice Department last December to expedite reclassification of marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III, and in April Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche signed an order to reschedule state-licensed medical marijuana to Schedule III, easing research restraints and federal tax burdens on companies in the $30-billion legal cannabis industry.
“It’s certainly a very popular issue among voters,” said Morgan Fox, political director for NORML, a non-profit group that advocates for cannabis legalization. However, Kevin Sabet, CEO of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, a non-profit that opposes legalization and commercialization, believes cannabis reform will be a low-priority issue come November.
Before legalization, racial disparities in marijuana law enforcement were found in every Virginia locality with sufficient data to assess; Arlington, Virginia, was arresting Black people at 14 times the rate of White people despite equal use by race.
Black grassroots organizers led the charge to end roughly 20,000-25,000 arrests per year for small amounts of marijuana in Virginia. After legalization in 2021, cannabis arrests declined by more than 90 percent. Virginia now allows adults 21 and older to consume, possess, share, and grow marijuana; legalized the Cannabis Equity Reinvestment Fund; and created a $25 public consumption ticket on the first offense.
Earlier this year, the DOJ moved state-licensed medical marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III, with separate proceedings continuing regarding broader rescheduling of marijuana. The DEA is transitioning from an agency associated with cannabis enforcement to one increasingly involved in cannabis regulation, and began accepting registrations from medical marijuana businesses while requesting information on ownership structures, operational procedures, supply chains, and inventory controls.
For years, cannabis businesses primarily answered to state regulators, focusing on state licensing, inspections, compliance obligations, and enforcement priorities. Following the DOJ’s rescheduling order, operators, investors, and entrepreneurs face questions about how changes will be implemented, what role the DEA will play, and what businesses should do today to prepare, with important compliance decisions potentially needed before all answers are available.
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