There will be ‘broad implications’ for taxes, housing, immigration and more when marijuana is rescheduled

By Kyle Jaeger, Marijuana Moment

Congressional researchers say it’s “likely” the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will follow the top federal health agency’s recent recommendation to reschedule marijuana, which would have “broad implications for federal policy” in areas such as taxes, housing, immigration, military eligibility, gun rights and more.

In a report published on Wednesday, analysts with the Congressional Research Service (CRS) gave an overview of the cannabis scheduling review directed by President Joe Biden last year and assessed the potential impact of moving marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), as recommended by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

While DEA has affirmed that it’s bound by the health agency’s scientific and medical findings, it can still make a conflicting scheduling decision. But “if past is prologue it could be likely that DEA will reschedule marijuana according to HHS’s recommendation,” CRS said.

It pointed to an example of DEA following HHS’s scheduling advice when it came to the synthetic cannabinoid product Marinol, which was placed in Schedule III in 1999.

“If marijuana is rescheduled to Schedule III, it would have broad implications for federal policy,” CRS said. “Also, this move would have significant implications for state medical marijuana programs and users of medical marijuana, but fewer implications for state recreational marijuana programs and those who use marijuana recreationally.”