The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is responsible for determining whether a drug should be classified as a Schedule I, II, III, IV, or V drug. The Controlled Substances Act (CSA) requires that a drug must have an accepted medical use in treatment in the United States and be safe for use under medical supervision in order to be classified as anything other than a Schedule I drug. Hemp is currently listed as a Schedule I drug, but is this classification still valid? The Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018 (AIA) defines hemp as any part of the cannabis plant that contains 0.3% or less of Δ9-THC in dry weight. This means that hemp-derived extracts no longer require permits from the DEA.
However, this does not mean that hemp is no longer considered a Schedule I drug. The DEA still considers any cannabis plant with more than 0.3% Δ9-THC to be marijuana and therefore subject to the CSA. The CSA requires that a drug must have an accepted medical use in treatment in the United States and be safe for use under medical supervision in order to be classified as anything other than a Schedule I drug. The United States government maintains that cannabis is dangerous enough to deserve List I status, and some questions have been raised as to whether the use of the plant itself causes serious psychological or physical dependence, as required by a Schedule I or even Schedule II criterion. In 1977, the Court issued a decision clarifying that the Controlled Substances Act requires a full scientific and medical evaluation and compliance with the reprogramming process before treaty commitments can be evaluated (NORML c. Under the CSA), the DEA must begin investigating the reprogramming of a drug after receiving a request from any interested party, including the manufacturer of a drug, a medical society or association, a pharmacy association or a public interest group related to drug abuse, a state or local government agency, or a citizen. In the United States, the removal of cannabis from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act is a proposal for legal and administrative change in cannabis-related legislation at the federal level.
Krumm, of the CNP, filed a request for the rescheduling of cannabis with the DEA on the grounds that marijuana does not have the potential for abuse to be included in Schedule I of the CSA, and because marijuana is now accepted for medical use in 13 states, and because the DEA's own administrative law judge has already determined that marijuana is safe for use under medical supervision. In his announcement, President Biden said he would ask the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the attorney general to review how marijuana is programmed under federal law. This could potentially lead to marijuana being reclassified as a Schedule 2 drug, which would allow it to be used for treatment and prescribed by doctors and pharmacists. At this time, hemp remains classified as a Schedule I drug by the DEA. This means that it does not currently have an accepted medical use in treatment in the United States and is not safe for use under medical supervision. However, if further research shows that hemp has potential medical benefits and can be used safely under medical supervision, it could potentially be reclassified as something other than a Schedule I drug.
