The reclassification would not legalize the substance. It takes cannabis off the DEA’s Schedule I list, which includes substances it said have the highest potential for abuse and psychological dependence.
(Pixabay)
The US Justice Department submitted a proposed regulation change this month to move cannabis from a Schedule I to a Schedule III substance.
Indiana is one of 12 states that does not have a comprehensive medical cannabis program and one of fewer than 20 where people can still be incarcerated for possession.
The reclassification would not legalize the substance.
It takes cannabis off the DEA’s Schedule I list, which includes substances it said have the highest potential for abuse and psychological dependence. And it moves it to Schedule III, which are substances the DEA said have moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence.
The change is exactly what Jeff Staker, organizer with Hoosier Veterans for Medical Cannabis, has been asking for since 2016 when he started the organization. He’s worked with groups like the American Legion and AMVETS on resolutions that ask the Justice Department to recognize the potential for medical cannabis use.
“I did that after I was just getting off of opiates, from nearly 10 years of being prescribed that through the VA,” he said. “I was running the risk of– I was having to take more later on than what a little did at the beginning.”
Jeff Staker at the Veteran of Foreign Wars post in Peru, Ind. (Max Rebolledo, WTIU News)
The opiates were for chronic back pain. Since 2012 the Veterans Association started trying to get veterans off opiates, because of a rise in accidental overdoses.
Staker said cancelling people’s prescriptions sometimes pushed them to seek out street drugs or experience dangerous withdrawal symptoms.
Staker, who now has a medical cannabis card, said access to medical cannabis could have mediated negative effects for people.
“It gives me a better quality of life,” he said. “Mostly I prefer gummies. Because I know what I'm getting, I know the dosage and everything.”
Staker is an Indiana resident and said he’s shown his card to his local prosecutor.
Staker's medical cannabis card (WTIU News, Bente Bouthier)
In 2022, President Biden asked the Department of Health and Human Services for a scientific review of cannabis scheduling, and it determined the substance has medical value. The DEA’s May notice moves to make its scheduling consistent with that decision.
But for drug legalization advocates, the change doesn’t reverse damage done by The Controlled Substances Act, passed in 1970.
The National Coalition for Drug Legalization held a community panel at the Buskirk Chumley Theatre in Bloomington this month, where an attendee asked about the reclassification.
Nicholas Voyles, Indiana Recovery Alliance executive director, told attendees reclassification and medical cannabis will benefit people who could qualify for a card or who have ready access to healthcare. And that’s if and when Indiana decides to change its rules.
“This is doing nothing to discuss the people that have been locked up from this horrible scheduling of a drug that was only scheduled to hurt a certain race class,” he said.
Voyles doesn’t anticipate the rescheduling will change a lot for the people he works with and wants full legalization. Three of Indiana’s four neighbors have decriminalized cannabis.
“Let's say, you get caught two or three times (with cannabis), then you're habitual,” he said.
If you’re convicted of a Level 5 or 6 Felony and are a habitual offender, the court can add two to six years to your sentence. Possession of 30 grams of cannabis, which weighs as much as a small bowl of cereal, is a class B misdemeanor in Indiana. Anything more than that can result in a felony charge.
“You could conceivably do a lot of time over marijuana, or you can drive one state over. And it's completely legal.”
Voyles said enough research is available on benefits of cannabis, and it’s individualized who benefits from medical use.
Researchers say rescheduling will make conducting research, like clinical trials, easier. Ken Mackie is among a team of IU neuroscientists who study cannabinoids.
Mackie said scheduling substances doesn’t make logical of sense. But the rescheduling will simplify his research.
His lab at IU gets surprise visits from the DEA every couple years.
Mackie in his lab's storage area. The DEA requires researchers to keep cannabinoids stored with multiple forms of locks. (WTIU News, Bente Bouthier)
It would be easier to get different types of cannabinoids to study, he said, rather than a time-consuming Schedule I license process for each.
“Each one of those Schedule I’s, adding them is a very time-consuming process. So, this will make that faster.”
Which, he said, will hasten research.
Mackie said because cannabis hasn’t been decriminalized in Indiana, it makes it hard to interview people about their use.
“If you ask them, ‘Do use cannabis?’ you're potentially having them admit to a crime at the state and federal level.”
Right now, it’s hard for researchers with shorter questions about the effects of cannabis, because they may not have the resources or time to get a Schedule I license. In these cases, Mackie said, they might partner with a lab or group that already does have a license.
Staker goes to legislative sessions and works on resolutions with veteran groups for medical cannabis.
But his work slowed down in the last few years. Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb and other lawmakers stated they won’t change rules on cannabis until the federal government does something.
But now Staker anticipates Indiana will change its laws. He served as a sniper in the Marines,
Indiana will have a new governor next year, and candidate Mike Braun expressed his support for medical cannabis during a debate this spring, which Staker finds promising.
A sniper in the Marines for 11 years, he’s used to waiting and assessing next moves. And the 2025 legislative session is in his field of vision.
Staker, pictured above, from his time in the marines.
“We'll see something happen,” he said. “And with this rescheduling, most definitely it will happen, 100 percent. Indiana will have to do something to facilitate this medicine for our citizens and our veterans.”
Now that the DEA has issued a notice to reclassify, a period of public comment is open and goes through July. Comments can be submitted to the Federal eRulemaking portal.
