Have you been to a licensed cannabis dispensary lately?

My team and I often visit them in the Greater Lansing area to invite cannabis users to participate in our studies. As soon as we walk in, we are met with a dazzling array of products: high-potency vape cartridges, gourmet gummies, premium marijuana flowers and more.

This broad array of choice is common in Michigan, a state where per capita sales now rank among the nation’s highest. I confess I look at those shelves with some professional frustration. As a Michigan State University researcher who has spent nearly two decades studying cannabis use and human health, I face severe restrictions under federal law that mean I cannot study the products that so many of my neighbors are buying.

Under federal law, cannabis is a Schedule I drug. According to this designation, cannabis has “a high potential for abuse” and “no currently accepted medical use,” even though millions of Americans consume it every day. Other Schedule I drugs include heroin and LSD.

In my view, a proposal to reclassify cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III represents a significant, though incomplete, step forward. The change was introduced during the Biden administration and supported by an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in late 2025, but it seems stalled in a regulatory morass.

For researchers like me, whose work is rooted in understanding how this widely available substance affects the health of Michiganders, the change opens some doors while leaving other critical barriers intact.

1 in 6........

© The Conversation