A mature woman stands at the counter of a legal cannabis retailer as she holds out a lid of buds. She is dressed casually and looking down to inspect the product as the associate tries to sell it to her. A move by the federal government to reclassify marijuana as a schedule III drug could have implications for senior living residents.
Last week, the US Department of Justice and its Drug Enforcement Agency announced that the attorney general had submitted a proposed rule to the Federal Register , initiating a formal process to consider moving marijuana from a schedule I to a schedule III drug under the Controlled Substances Act. The rule was published Tuesday.
During a LeadingAge member policy update call on Monday, Vice President of Legal Affairs Jon Lips said that if the proposed rule is finalized, it has the potential to impact aging services providers, but that it will take “considerable time” for that to play out.
“Our analysis is that reclassification would create the possibility of medical uses that are not available under current federal law, provided that state medical marijuana programs can be aligned, and that research about the medical effects of marijuana would be subject to fewer restrictions,” Lips told McKnight’s Senior Living. “However, there are several steps that would lie ahead, even beyond the Department of Justice issuing a final rule reclassifying to schedule III.”
Marijuana has been classified as a schedule I drug since Congress enacted the CSA in 1970. The latest move by the Justice Department follows a Department of Health and Human Services recommendation in August to reschedule marijuana, finding that it has medical and scientific value. The HHS recommendation considered the potential for abuse, scientific evidence of marijuana’s pharmacologic effects, and potential risks to public health.
Lips said that the key difference between schedule I and schedule III substances is that those under the schedule III umbrella have accepted medical uses and may be lawfully dispensed by prescription, whereas schedule I drugs cannot be prescribed. Any prescription medications also must be approved by the Food and Drug Administration, and marijuana is not an […]
Potential rescheduling of marijuana could affect senior living providers, residents
