Federal laws need massive rewrites to match medical cannabis rescheduling

The federal war against medical cannabis has been raging just a little longer than Warren Zevon’s 1978 song “Lawyers, Guns and Money” has been worming its way into Americans’ minds.  

Patients are ready to hear a new tune from Washington on medical cannabis policy. And they had reason to think things had finally changed with an order to place medical cannabis products from qualifying state-licensed sources into Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act, create a pathway for businesses to obtain Drug Enforcement Administration registration and recognize patients’ state medical cannabis certification as equivalent to prescriptions. 

President Trump’s administration deserves credit for taking the first major step. However, the order to align federal cannabis policy with U.S. obligations under International Drug Treaties included instructions for only two federal agencies: the DEA and the Treasury, which are moving forward with implementation.  

But cannabis policy is embedded across every federal agency based on policies resting on the outdated premise that medical cannabis patients were engaged in illegal drug use, even when following state law and acting under a clinician’s recommendation. That premise has been used to deny housing, terminate federal assistance, threaten employment, restrict healthcare access, complicate veterans’ care and deny firearm rights.  

Now that the premise has changed, federal agencies can’t leave their cannabis policy on autopilot. The administration should direct every federal agency to identify and update policies, forms, guidance documents, enforcement practices, funding conditions and data systems that treat registered medical cannabis use as a crime. Though agencies do this kind of........

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