The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) sent a letter to the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) on August 29, 2023, recommending that marijuana be reclassified from a Schedule I drug to a Schedule III drug under the Controlled Substances Act, according to a report from Bloomberg.

While this recommendation does not change the legal status of marijuana under federal law, nor does it bind the DEA to make a scheduling change, it reflects that HHS, including its Food and Drug Administration, has taken action in response to an October 2022 statement from President Biden on marijuana reform, in which the President directed HHS and the Department of Justice (which houses the DEA) to initiate an administrative process “to review expeditiously how marijuana is scheduled under federal law.”  As noted in the Bloomberg article, Schedule III drugs are considered as less dangerous than Schedule I substances and can be obtained legally with a prescription.

A reclassification would not resolve all conflicts between federal and state laws regulating use of marijuana for medical or recreational purposes, but HHS’s recommendation is a significant development. DEA, which has final authority on the issue of rescheduling, will now undertake its own review, and we will continue to follow this evolving story.