Cannabis Musings - January 25, 2024
No, we're not going to see FDA-approved cannabis.
Friends – you may have noticed that there’s a lot of confusion out there about what would and wouldn’t happen if the DEA were to actually reschedule cannabis to a Schedule III controlled substance. We’ve talked about this problem before, but it hasn’t gone away (more reason everyone should be a subscriber).
Imagine my sheer lack of surprise to see a new poll by NuggMD (reported by Marijuana Moment) wherein 53% of respondents agreed that, if the DEA were to reschedule cannabis, that would either make it easier (28%) or harder (25%) to get cannabis. Furthermore, if legal cannabis were only available from “a pharmacy with a prescription,” 32% would “use the illicit market to obtain cannabis.”
To me, these polling questions, as well as the answers, exemplify the utter confusion about the effects of rescheduling. Let’s try to hammer this home one last time, with feeling: the chances of a pharmaceutical company spending millions and millions of dollars on a New Drug Application, undergoing years of testing, to obtain FDA approval for Schedule III cannabis, and then market it, so that it might be sold in pharmacies years down the road pursuant to controlled substance prescriptions from doctors to treat a handful of maladies, are infinitesimally small. Arguing that it might happen is getting into spherical cow territory.
Don’t believe me because these Cannabis Musings aren’t legal advice? See then what Howard Sklamberg, Partner at Arnold & Porter and former FDA official who oversaw the agency’s cannabis efforts, said about this (spoiler: he made the same point).
I respect the fact that this stuff isn’t straightforward; however, there’s solid information out there that the industry seems to willingly ignore. There’s no reason here to exacerbate the (understandable) historic paranoia about government machinations (see, e.g., the poll result that only 18% of respondents would prefer “FDA-approved cannabis products sold at pharmacies” over “traditional botanical products sold at legacy cannabis dispensaries”).
Don’t get me wrong – when it comes to cannabis policy, I always expect just about the worst outcome imaginable, because that’s usually the case (I’ve been correct about SAFE Banking for about five years now). But here, this is an easy call. Just like the FDA and the DEA aren’t cracking down on the state-licensed cannabis industry today, as a matter of grace, it’ll be exactly the same if the DEA reschedules cannabis to III. Why won’t they? Because that would require effort.
Be seeing you!
© 2024 Marc Hauser and Hauser Advisory. None of the foregoing is legal, investment, or any other sort of advice, and it may not be relied upon in any manner, shape, or form.