Cannabis has medical use and is less addictive than comparable drugs, a US health agency admitted for likely the first time today in newly released documents published on Substack, X and Marijuana Moment.
The long march to federal legalization took another step forward with the publication of the document from the United States Health and Human Services Agency. According to documents released under the Freedom of Information Act and requested by Matt Zorn, the US HHS has recommended (pdf) to the Department of Justice Drug Enforcement Administration on Aug. 23 that cannabis be re-ranked on the government’s list of dangerous drugs down from its No. 1 spot alongside heroin to a No. 3 slot alongside the tranquilizer ketamine or the painkiller codeine.
This process of re-ranking is called re-scheduling. Marijuana has been a Schedule I drug since it was placed there in the ’70s over the opinions of experts. Today, over 90% of Americans support medical legalization of marijuana. On Oct. 6, President Biden had urged the HHS to review cannabis’ scheduling, resulting in the August recommendation to the DOJ. The DEA has not stated when it will respond to the HHS’s recommendation.
We’ll have more details as we read the 252-page document.
Related
30 weed predictions very likely to come true in 2024
The core of a scheduling review is two legs: medical use, and potential for abuse. In the past, the federal government had deemed marijuana had no medical use and a high potential for abuse. That is no longer a tenable position.
On medical use
The HHS review of 2023 found extensive medical use of cannabis in the 40+ states with medical cannabis laws:
more than 30,000 HCPs are authorized to recommend the use of marijuana for more than six million registered patients, constituting widespread clinical experience associated with various medical conditions recognized by a substantial number of jurisdictions across the United States.
US HHS Aug. 2023
“more than 30,000 HCPs are authorized to recommend the use of marijuana for more than six million registered patients, constituting widespread clinical experience associated with various medical conditions recognized by a substantial number of jurisdictions across the United States.”
On potential for abuse
The HHS review found most people using cannabis were doing so safely and no one was dying from it, unlike far more deadly and less restricted drugs. According to the HHS, “evidence also exists showing that the vast majority of individuals who use marijuana are doing so in a manner that does not lead to dangerous outcomes to themselves or others.”
“although abuse of marijuana produces clear evidence of harmful consequences, these appear to be relatively less common and less severe than some other comparator drugs.”
Marijuana is the “lowest ranking group” for “serious medical outcomes, including death, observed in Poison Center data,” the HHS found.
For overdose deaths, marijuana is always in the lowest ranking among comparator drugs.
US HHS Aug. 2023
“The risks to the public health posed by marijuana are lower compared to other drugs of abuse (e.g., heroin, oxycodone, cocaine), based on an evaluation of various epidemiological databases for emergency department (ED) visits, hospitalizations, unintentional exposures, and most importantly, for overdose deaths.”
“For overdose deaths, marijuana is always in the lowest ranking among comparator drugs.”
In conclusion, the HHS writes:
“Based on the totality of the available data, we conclude that there exists some credible scientific support for the medical use of marijuana in at least one of the indications for which there is widespread current experience in the United States.”
Ohioans have some pretty sweet cannabis legalization—if they can keep it.
This March, state herb lovers must activate to defend their hard-fought cannabis freedoms from Republican lawmakers.
Ohioans approved of legalization in November 2023 with a 57% yes vote on Issue 2. However, Republican lawmakers can completely repeal Issue 2, and they’ve started the repeal process this winter.
Email your lawmaker and tell them to “Vote no on Senate Bill 56.” Call, text, and testify if you can.
What’s going on with Ohio legalization repeal in 2025?
Republicans re-criminalizing weed in Senate Bill 56
So far, the state has sold $347 million in legal, taxed grass. Adults age 21 and older can possess and use 2.5 ounces and grow up to 6 plants per person.
Ohio Republicans have one big bill to unwind legalization—Senate Bill 56.
The bill would:
Sicken Ohioans by requiring new, untested chemicals diluting their vapes
Dictate what Ohioans can do in their own backyard
Make it a crime for a husband to give a joint to his wife
Make it a crime to vape on a boat—even as a passenger
SB 56 also contains a gift to the alcohol industry— SB 56 caps dispensaries at just 350. Meanwhile, there are 24,000 active liquor permits in Ohio.
Contact your lawmaker and protect your freedoms. Ohio has over 1 million regular cannabis consumers.
When should I speak up on Ohio’s repeal of legalization?
Ohio Republicans want force dilution of legal vapes with unsafe chemicals. Diluting vape oil sickened more than 2,600 and killed over 50 in 2020. Above, dangerous colorless, odorless diluent vitamin E oil. (Courtesy of CDC)
The time is now.
Stop legalization repeal bill SB 56
Senate Republicans already voted passed SB 56 in late February. It requires new chemicals in your cannabis extracts to dilute them below a 70% THC cap. It’s a pro-cartel bill that hands over the hash market to illegal dealers who will have untaxed, untested, more potent products.
SB 56 went live for debate in the Ohio House on March 3, and it should head to the House Finance Committee. Email them.
Who is trying to trample on cannabis consumers’ rights in Ohio?
The chief Republican pushing pot re-criminalization is Sen. Stephen A. Huffman—who is up for reelection in November 2026. All nine Senate Democrats voted ‘no’ on Huffman’s SB 56.
Legalization is popular—57% of Buckeye voters passed it. Nearly $347 million in legal weed has been sold since August.
Why are lawmakers subverting the people’s will?
Speak up or 7 plants becomes a crime again in Ohio—not even two years after 57% of voters legalized it. (Leafly)
Lawmakers think they know better than the voters who elected them, legalized it with 57% of the vote.
Sen. Huffman has said, “I’m not sure why people voted for [legalization].”
Ohio Republicans opposed legalization in 2023, and pitch partial repeal for “consumer and child safety.”
However, voters approved Issue 2 to increase consumer and child safety. Legal markets tax, test, and regulate cannabis. They check IDs, and use child-safe packaging. Repeal gives a win to street dealers that literally poisoned children.
Why do Ohio’s Republican lawmakers think they know better than their voters?
It’s the same paternalism that drove the drug war in the first place. The party of ‘small government,’ ‘personal responsibility,’ and ‘low regulation’ has taken aim at your backyard, your vape pen, and sharing a joint to your wife.
Over 40 opponents spoke at SB 56’s Senate hearing. Only six spoke in favor of repealing legalization. Republicans advanced repeal anyway.
Can Ohio voters win this year?
Sure.
Voters over in Montana already defeated several bad bills in their state during this legislative cycle. Ditto for South Dakota.
Lawmakers respond to emails, phone calls, text messages, and testimony from constituents. Inboxes flooded with ‘Vote No on SB 56’’ will make them twice.
You can find your Ohio lawmaker on this page.
Keep the message simple: ‘No new taxes and regulations on weed’ and mention you are a constituent. The majority is with you.
Ohio Republicans will keep trying each year to lock people back up for weed. The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.
Up next for Ohio repeal, another Republican reward to street dealers —doubling taxes on legal weed
Separately, Ohio Gov. Mike Dewine plans to abandon the party’s low-tax ethos to double taxes on herb. His proposed state budget raises pot taxes from 10% to 20%.
Ohio House hears the budget this winter as well.
Contact your lawmaker and say ‘no new weed taxes.’ They are a giveaway to the illegal market, which doesn’t pay any taxes.
Montanans: It’s time to activate to protect your access to legal cannabis from being given away by Montana politicians to drug cartels.
Several new bills require you to raise your voice with your lawmakers, and let them know you oppose repealing the cannabis legalization that a 62% majority of Montana voters approved.
Follow this link to sign up for email notifications and tell state lawmakers ‘don’t tread on my cannabis rights.’ Share it widely.
There are nearly 100,000 cannabis consumers in Montana—it’s high time lawmakers thought twice about infringing on their rights.
What’s going on with Montana legalization repeal in 2025?
Each year, Republican lawmakers try a host of measures to give the legal industry away to illicit market dealers including drug cartels. This year, the new bills include:
Capping THC in any product at 15%
Cannabis flower regularly tests above 20%. Virtually every extract and vape would be banned. The bill—Senate Bill 443—might as well have been written by illegal vape peddlers who sell untested poison to children. Email your lawmaker with the subject headline ‘Oppose SB 443.’ In the body text, state that you are a voter in their district. Calls and texts are even better.
Virtually every extract and vape would be banned.
A government watch list of stoners
A different bill—SB255—would charge each recreational smoker $200 and make them register with the state. Very Orwellian. Email your lawmaker with the subject headline ‘Oppose SB 255.’ In the email body, state that you are a voter in their district. Calls and texts are even better.
When should I speak up on Montana’s repeal of legalization?
The time is now.
‘Political giveaway to cartels’ bill hearing is February 27
The 15% THC potency cap bill that gives the legal industry to the cartels—SB443—has just come out and will go to a committee hearing first. The first committee hearing is one of the best places to nip it in the bud. Email these members of the Business Labor and Economic Affairs committee.
‘Watch list for stoners’ bill gets hearing is also on February 27
The ‘government watch list of stoners’ bill—SB255—also just came out, and heads to a committee hearing on February 27. Flipping just a couple of committee members can kill this bill for this year. Email these members of the Business Labor and Economic Affairs committee.
Who is trying to trample on cannabis consumers’ rights in Montana?
A small cadre of Republican lawmakers opposed the 62% majority of Montanans that approved cannabis legalization. The list includes: the 25 co-sponsors on the drug cartel gift bill SB443.
Because some politicians think they know better than the 62% of Montanans that approved legalization. Even though they are ‘small government’ ‘personal freedom and responsibility’ Republicans—they’ve set aside those values. Some take money from police lobbies. Others take money from supporters of big government ‘nanny state’ paternalism.
Why are Montana Republicans writing bills to benefit illicit drug dealers including drug cartels?
Because they either don’t know or don’t care that restricting lawful access to taxed and regulated cannabis turns the industry over to street dealers that don’t test and don’t card. They believe America is better off with prohibition and the war on marijuana.
Can Montana voters win this year?
Sure. Montana voters, activists, and industry have already defeated one bad bill to limit free speech in the cannabis trade. House Bill 331 tried to gag cannabis operators from talking about marijuana in public. Lawmakers abandoned HB331 on February 6. It could likely return this session, and will surely return in 2027—so supporters must stay vigilant each year for bad bills such as these.
Protecting Montana’s legalization is easier than winning legalization. All voters have to do is get their lawmaker to abstain or skip a key committee vote, and politicians love to do nothing, experts note.
So get involved! We’ve found that cannabis is a gateway to all sorts of civic engagement. Once you know exactly who your representatives are, how to reach them, and see the results—speaking your mind can become habit-forming!
Download the Leafly app, turn on notifications, and get on our email list to stay plugged in.
The fog of the inauguration has cleared, and prospects for weed law reform look dim in Washington D.C. under the second Trump Administration.
But don’t get bummed—experts say voters have the power to dictate their fate at the level where it most impacts them: their city and state.
According to veterans of the country’s weed wars for decades, no executive order, DEA ruling, or Congressional bill is on tap to deliver the legalization that 70% of US voters want. But a series of state battles are brewing, where regular folks can defend and advance their freedoms.
“No one is coming to save us. There’s no hero here,” said cannabis investor Emily Paxia, co-founder at Poseidon Asset Management. Paxhia is a veteran of the major reform group Marijuana Policy Project. “Every victory has been at the state level, and I think there’s still hope.”
Before we dive into the weed reform battles brewing in California, Ohio, Montana, Nebraska, and Texas, let’s run down prospects in the three branches of government: a distracted Executive; a hostile Legislative; and a wild card Judicial.
Conflicting White House priorities
Populist plant: Cannabis enjoys 90% support for medical legalization and 70% support for adult-use laws. (David Downs/Leafly)
Many experts don’t see legal weed as a priority at a Republican White House.
During the election, the famously straight-edge candidate said he supported Florida legalization Amendment 3, rescheduling, and a State’s Rights approach to pot policy. Since then—silence. Some take the President at his word, including the major lobbying group the US Cannabis Council.
“President Trump has clearly stated his position on cannabis reform. He supports rescheduling, banking access, and state-level legalization,” the USCC wrote to Leafly. “We have every expectation that he will follow through on his commitments, and we look forward to working with his administration to move our nation forward.”
Conversely, Paul Armentano—Deputy Director of America’s most notable reform group, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML)—doubts the President will lift a finger for potheads.
Related
Cannabis predictions for 2025: Low prices, high taxes, and hash
“There is really nothing in Trump’s history that would lend one to believe that this is an issue that he wishes to prioritize.”
Paxhia said industry and experts have briefed the President, and he understands legal cannabis is about taxation and regulation, not underage use.
“But the biggest question is where the priority lies for his new presidency.”
A dead end at HHS and DEA
President Biden’s bungling of rescheduling showed how the White House can’t just snap its fingers and take marijuana off the Controlled Substances Act. It requires the Drug Enforcement Administration or an act of Congress. The folks at both of those places are no friend to grass.
President Trump nominated pro-pot Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Health and Human Services Secretary, but then RFK. Jr. promptly demurred to the DEA.
Moreover, President Trump then nominated a longtime drug warrior to run the DEA—Terry Cole. That’s bad news for those hoping the DEA would give rescheduling marijuana a fair hearing.
“Cannabis prohibition is in the DNA of the DEA. What are you going to do—strip it out?”
Armentano said from years of experience that rescheduling is a catch-22: “There is no way you’re ever going to get a level playing field in that process.”
So legalizing administratively looks like a dead-end. What about Congress?
Congress: Dim and dimmer
Congressional Republicans promise to do less on weed law reform than the do-nothing Democrats that preceded them.
For example, former Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer never brought even a modest pot banking bill to the Senate floor. The first Republican pot bill this session would retain prohibition-era taxes on any cannabis business deemed legal.
Congress rewards seniority, and the shot-callers in both houses are veterans of prohibition, said Armentano.
“The older the lawmaker, the more wedded they are to the sort of war on drugs mentality of the 1980s.”
Paul Armentano, Deputy Director, NORML
The Supreme Court: Joker’s wild
One bright spot might turn out to be the judicial branch. The highest court in the land now envisions a less powerful federal government. That vision could net a win for state weed programs.
The Supreme Court has taken a more federalist turn after several Trump appointments. Specifically, the new conservative majority could narrow the reach of 1970’s Controlled Substances Act, and thus protect state-legal cannabis systems.
In particular, a pending case questions the application of the US Constitution’s inter-state Commerce Clause to quash intra-state weed commerce.
“This is an avenue that doesn’t get enough attention,” she said.
The real action: Back in the States
Cannabis fans can score real wins defending the weed rights they’ve already won and advancing new ones at the state level this year.
It’s an opportunity to hold your elected representatives accountable for real change. Take a look:
Protecting Montana
For example: Montanans must rally to protect legalization there. It’s under threat by a new bill to charge each recreational smoker $200 and make them register with the state. Another bill caps THC at 15% across the board—a giveaway to street dealers and the illicit market.
“They are really after us this time,” David Liberman, general manager at Lionheart Cannabis. Montana’s 100,000 or so cannabis consumers can get engaged here.
Tax equality for Californians
Meet your lawmaker during California Lobby Day March 24. Photo from 2024. (Courtesy CA NORML)
Californians can meet their representative Sacramento Lobby Day on March 24 to stop another tax hike. Cali weed smokers pay 150 times the taxes on a joint compared to a glass of wine, and 60 times more taxes than beer drinkers.
Defending Ohio, Nebraska, and South Dakota
Ohio, Nebraska, and South Dakota have legalized adult-use, or medical cannabis, but politicians didn’t get the memo. Supporters in each state will have to defend their voter-approved measures against Republican efforts to undo the people’s will.
Pennsylvania’s push
Furthermore, Pennsylvania’s Governor Josh Shapiro wants to enact majority-supported adult-use legalization there, but he’ll need voters to lean on their representatives.
“Legalizing adult-use cannabis will make Pennsylvania more competitive, bring in more money to help our communities, and create real opportunity for small businesses all across our Commonwealth,” he wrote Feb. 24.
Freedom to grow in Washington state
Talk about a bellwether: one of the nation’s oldest adult-use cannabis states—Washington—will still lock you up for growing a single weed plant. Will voters speak up to help pass House Bill 1449? Weigh in here.
Find your voice
With 41 medical states, and super-majority US support for legalization—no voter should fear raising the cannabis issue with their state representative, or state senator, said Armentano. There are about 34 million regular cannabis users in America. It’s high time elected officials heard from them.
For example, weed voters defeated an Ohio legalization attack in 2023 with 7,500 emails to legislators.
There are about 34 million regular cannabis users in America. It’s high time elected officials heard from them.
“We have seen when a lot of cannabis consumers push this issue, politicians will respond,” he said.
Even better, defeating many state freedoms often requires politicians to just skip or abstain from a committee vote. And politicians love to do nothing.
“Typically it’s easier to defeat legislation than it is to pass legislation,” Armentano said. “We have that home-field advantage in a lot of these instances.”
So don’t pout, doom scroll, or hold your breath for some savior. Lend your voice to stir up change that’ll percolate up from the states. Indeed, that’s how lasting change happens.
