{"id":7332,"date":"2017-04-08T04:06:14","date_gmt":"2017-04-08T04:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.denverpost.com?p=2608326&amp;preview_id=2608326"},"modified":"2017-04-08T04:06:14","modified_gmt":"2017-04-08T04:06:14","slug":"new-federal-bill-would-reschedule-marijuana-as-schedule-iii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/new-federal-bill-would-reschedule-marijuana-as-schedule-iii\/","title":{"rendered":"New federal bill would reschedule marijuana as Schedule III"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/new-federal-bill-would-reschedule-marijuana-as-schedule-iii\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><div class=\"row\" id=\"sticky-outer\">\n<div class=\"large-11 small-12 columns\">\n<div class=\"entry-meta-date\">Published: Apr 7, 2017, 5:42 pm \u2022 Updated: Apr 7, 2017, 6:02 pm<span class=\"single-comments-link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2017\/04\/07\/marijuana-federal-rescheduling-schedule-i\/76885\/#disqus_thread\" class=\"commentsNameLink\" \/><\/span><\/div>\n<p class=\"byline\">By <span class=\"author\"><a class=\"url fn n\" href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/author\/awallace\/\" rel=\"author\">Alicia Wallace<\/a><\/span><em>, The Cannabist Staff<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The latest marijuana-centric bill before Congress would place cannabis as a Schedule III substance, a classification shared by Tylenol with codeine, ketamine and dronabinol.<\/p>\n<p>Two Florida congressmen, Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz and Democratic Rep. Darren Soto, <a href=\"https:\/\/gaetz.house.gov\/media\/press-releases\/congressmen-gaetz-and-soto-propose-legislation-reschedule-marijuana\" target=\"_blank\">introduced legislation Thursday<\/a> that would transfer marijuana to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act from its current standing as a Schedule I substance, the strictest of the classifications. <\/p>\n<p>Having marijuana on a lower rung would uphold the rights of states that have legalized the medical use of cannabis, allow for banking activities and create a clearer path for research, Gaetz said in an interview with The Cannabist.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have supported cannabis reform as a state legislator, and I want to see the people that I fought for in my state have access to a legal, high-quality product that\u2019s been well-researched,\u201d Gaetz said.<\/p>\n<p>When Gaetz was a state legislator in 2014 and 2015, he backed legislation to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tampabay.com\/news\/politics\/stateroundup\/gov-scott-signs-charlottes-web-marijuana-bill-into-law\/2184590\" target=\"_blank\">legalize \u201cnon-euphoric\u201d marijuana<\/a> for medical use and a bill to allow <a href=\"http:\/\/www.miamiherald.com\/news\/politics-government\/state-politics\/article68337507.html\" target=\"_blank\">terminally ill patients<\/a> to access full-strength, non-smokeable cannabis. Both were signed into law.<\/p>\n<p>Prior to those efforts, Gaetz stood in opposition to medical cannabis bills. What changed, he said, was watching <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2015\/04\/16\/sanjay-gupta-cnn-medical-marijuana-weed\/33348\/\">Dr. Sanjay Gupta\u2019s CNN special report, \u201cWeed,\u201d<\/a> which chronicled the stories of medical marijuana patients and the challenges of medical research.<\/p>\n<p>After watching the series, Gaetz said he thought that \u201csomebody should do something about that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUntil, I realized I could do that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>If successful, the yet-to-be-named House Bill 2020 would not affect recreational cannabis businesses in operation.<\/p>\n<p>The legislation, Gaetz said, is aimed at bolstering research and creating an economic boost by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2017\/01\/03\/elizabeth-warren-marijuana-banking\/70517\/\">allowing medical marijuana dispensaries to bank openly<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a modest step forward to try to find the most possible common ground,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve seen that work.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Marijuana\u2019s Schedule I status has resulted in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2017\/03\/16\/marijuana-research-health-studies-conflicting\/75696\/\">limitations for research<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>Federally approved studies have to utilize a marijuana study drug grown by University of Mississippi, the only federally approved cultivator. Researchers have long argued that the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2017\/03\/13\/government-research-marijuana-quality\/75461\/\">study drug does not accurately represent the potency and strains available to consumers in dispensaries<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In August, the Drug Enforcement Administration announced it would allow privately operated cultivators to apply to grow cannabis for research, and several companies have started the application process.<\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-meta-author\">\n<div class=\"authorimage\"><a class=\"url fn n\" href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/author\/awallace\/\" rel=\"author\"><img src=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/new-federal-bill-would-reschedule-marijuana-as-schedule-iii.jpg\" class=\"authormug\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p class=\"author-desc\">Alicia Wallace joined The Cannabist in July 2016, covering national marijuana policy and business. She contributes to the Denver Post&#8217;s beer industry coverage. In her 13 years as a business news reporter, her coverage has spanned the economy, Sports&#8230;<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!-- .row --> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The latest marijuana-centric bill before Congress would place cannabis as a Schedule III substance, a classification shared by Tylenol with codeine. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5062,6811,6857,117,6897,344,6813,6848,77,5667,56,9,6833,6855,5019,441,1,3,1525,61,1736],"tags":[5063,6816,6859,2695,6898,2922,6818,6851,2655,5673,2636,6835,6856,5022,3015,4093],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7332"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7332\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}