Cannabis advocacy organization Americans for Safe Access (ASA) released a new guide for cannabis patients and caregivers on Tuesday, designed to help individuals understand and exercise their rights under federal reclassification of medical cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act.

The guide, “Medical Cannabis Patients: Claiming Your Federal Protections and Privileges,” seeks to explain what the federal moves mean for patients, caregivers, providers, advocates and institutions.

In a statement, Steph Sherer, ASA founder and executive director, said patients “have waited decades for federal recognition, but recognition alone does not protect someone from losing housing, employment, health care, benefits or custody.”

“Patients now have new federal protections and privileges, but they must be willing to ask for them. The ASA created this guide because rights are not self-enforcing, and stigma will not disappear just because the law has changed.” – Sherer in one press release

The guide describes the rights and protections now available to medical cannabis patients under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Fair Housing Act, and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act; however, he cautions that “agencies, employers, landlords, health care facilities and public programs will not automatically update their policies just because the law has changed.”

“Federal medical cannabis laws have changed. Stigma will delay enforcement,” Sherer said in a statement. “Some systems will move slowly. Some will resist. Some may try to ignore this change altogether. That’s why patients, caregivers, providers, advocates and allies need to act now.”

The guide provides tools that patients and caregivers can use to protect their rights, request written explanations, document discrimination, and request individualized review.

The ASA also launched a campaign to end discrimination against medical cannabis patients and is collection of reports from patients, caregivers, veterans, workers, tenants, parents, service members and others who have experienced discrimination because of their medical use of cannabis.

“Documentation is not just paperwork,” Sherer said in a statement. “This is how individual experiences become evidence for policy change. Every denial letter, drug testing policy, housing notice or denial of care helps show federal agencies and lawmakers where outdated systems are still harming patients.”

The campaign is also calling on the administration of President Donald Trump (R) to immediately issue guidelines for medical cannabis patients under the new rules.

The National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) is seeking to participate in the upcoming Drug Enforcement Administration administrative hearing regarding the broad rescheduling of cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).

The hearing, set for June 29, will examine a 2023 recommendation by the Department of Health and Human Services to broadly reclassify cannabis under the CSA, and is separate from a recent decision by the federal government to move medical cannabis from Annex I to Annex III.

NORML is seeking formal status of the hearing participant as an “interested person,” arguing that the record will be incomplete without the perspective of adult cannabis users.

In one STATEMENTJoseph A. Bondy, chairman of NORML’s board of directors and counsel to NORML, said, “Adult cannabis users do not become patients because federal law lacks a better category for them.”

“Marijuana cannot legally remain in Schedule I. But Schedule III is not the end of the road. It is, at most, a temporary fix. It does not resolve the federal government’s continued failure to recognize adult cannabis users who are acting legally under state law.” – Bondy in a statement

NORML’s statement contends that federal cannabis planning directly affects consumers’ legal status, their access to tested and labeled products, their exposure to collateral consequences, and their ability to safely participate in state-regulated markets. The statement further argues that a Schedule III rule, if treated as final, would continue to leave consumers of adult-use cannabis federally exposed during the medical use of legal cannabis.

NORML previously applied to attend hearings scheduled for last year – which were eventually canceled – but was not among the parties selected.