Rescheduling Cannabis to a Schedule III Controlled Substance: A Regulator’s Perspective

Steven Hoffman, Inaugural Chairman of Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission and Board Member of EO, Offers Insights in a Recent PM360 Article

Recently, the Department of Health and Human Services recommended that cannabis be reclassified from a Schedule I Controlled Substance to a Schedule III Controlled Substance under the federal Controlled Substances Act. In a PM360 article Rescheduling Cannabis to a Schedule III Controlled Substance: A Regulator’s Perspective, Steven Hoffman, Inaugural Chairman of Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission and Board Member of EO, shared his perspective on the challenges this change presents to regulators and how they could respond.

Hoffman says, “we know clinically guided, science-based cannabis therapy has been proven to provide life-altering benefits for relief from symptoms such as cancer treatment, pain, anxiety, and sleep disorders.” He recommends that state regulators act now to maximize the number of people in their state who can benefit from the change. 

According to Hoffman, this means encouraging and facilitating research by changing state research licensing, engaging with private companies that do cannabis research, and making changes to residency requirements to address any possible Dormant Commerce Clause challenges and prepare for state regulatory changes that would be needed to meet federal standards. In addition, Hoffman notes several steps that regulators in states where cannabis cultivation occurs can take to protect those industries. 

In the article, Hoffman also discusses what happens next if the new scheduling recommendation is approved. He explains that a formal rulemaking process will follow, which could include significant legal challenges to the proposed change. If those hurdles are overcome, many other unknowns will remain. The possible elimination of the requirement that everything sold in-state must be grown in-state could put indoor cultivation states in the Midwest and Northeast at a serious competitive disadvantage, a new regulatory authority structure could result in a potential conflict between state and federal requirements, and impediments to research and drug development may continue given that cannabis will still be a federally illegal substance under Schedule III.

Hoffman says, “the uncertainties around the timing and impact of scheduling present an enormous challenge to state cannabis regulators…they need to find the balance between being ready to act quickly and effectively if rescheduling occurs and taking immediate steps to maximize the benefits of legalized cannabis, particularly for medical use, without waiting for rescheduling to be the cure-all.”

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Read the full article here