Marijuana Reclassification a (small) Step in the right direction
As the federal government moves to reclassify cannabis as a Schedule III drug, there is finally recognition that it has real medical benefit and is not dangerously habit forming.
Still, the new classification doesn’t make cannabis any more legal for recreational use. It will allow for more scientific study on the medical uses of the active ingredients, and has the potential to make already-lax federal enforcement even less pressing. In recent years there have been a number of high-profile cases where the DEA singled out some individual or company to make an example, but the vast majority of users and legal cannabis businesses operate unmolested.
The most important benefit will be to the cannabis companies themselves, with respect to tax write-offs. Currently, many operating expenses cannot be deducted, leading to very narrow margins for most business in a very competitive market. The final result should be a lower price to the consumer, but it remains to be seen how each jurisdiction will respond to the changes. Cannabis consumers are used to paying the prices they pay now, which in many states are substantially less than what they were paying prior to legalization.
Ultimately this author hopes that it will be the businesses, like Lume Cannabis Co, that will benefit the most, putting money back into their people and products, and keeping the public educated about safe and responsible use of cannabis.