Easing Restrictions - What Does Reclassifying Marijuana Mean?

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
From the WA and M Studio onthe campus of Florida A and M University.
This is Mary Forum Radio, aweekly conversation on the education and research
of the medical marijuana being conducted atBamui. Hi, I'm heii Outway,
your host for this conversations on CannabisVirtual Form, brought to you by the
Medical Marijuana Education and Research Initiative atFlorida and M University. In this conversation,

(00:26):
we're talking about the recent decision toreclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug.
So let's talk and learn about thissubject with our guests. Sharon James
is a nationally recognized speaker, educator, and attorney who specializes in regulatory and
policy manners. She's also served clientsin the cannabis industry. Sharan, Welcome

(00:48):
to the Forum. Tell us moreabout yourself. Hi, Heidi, happy
to be here again. I amSharan James. I am a regulatory lawyer
and public policy strategies involved in inhighly regulated industries like cannabis, and I'm
glad to be here to share someinsight about this important topic. Hi,
Charan, Well, it's good tohave you on the Forum today. Our

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next guest is Michelle Foy, theCEO of PRECD Screening, a twenty four
hour, twenty four to seven nationalprovider of workplace safety and compliance including drug
testing services. Michelle, welcome tothe forum. Tell us about yourself and
how you got involved in marijuana education. Thank you so much, Hidian.

(01:30):
Nice to see you, Sharon soagain. I am Michelle Foy. I'm
CEO of PREC Screening. We providetwenty four to seven and national services to
ensure that truck drivers are tested fordrugs and are physically fit to be on
the road to deliver all of theamazing goods that we all so desperately need,

(01:52):
among many other things. I actuallyam a corporate technologist and I got
into drug testing five years ago dueto the tragedy of losing my son DJ
to a drug deal, a marijuanadrug deal as a matter of fact,
gone bad. Wow. Well,thank you for sharing that story, and
I'm sure we're going to talk alittle bit more about that later in the

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(02:37):
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Now, let's start this conversation oncannabis. So, Sean, I'm
going to start with you to kindof help plant the flag and explain to

(02:59):
our viewers what does it mean toreclassify a drug And as for those who
are listening, this month, theBiden administration announced that it is preparing to
reclassify marijuana from a Schedule one drugto a Schedule three. So, Searan,
what does that mean? Thank you, Heidi. It's really important to

(03:21):
understand what reclassification means, and essentially, in its most simplest form, is
changing the legal status of a drugunder the Control Substance Act. And this
Act has been around for a numberof years. It places drugs into five
different categories. And so reclassification isthe legal process that the federal government uses

(03:45):
to change the classification of a drugfrom one to the other. Okay,
so what are the steps and theprocess involved in doing this? So the
steps involved in the reclassification is essentiallythe same process that a state or federal
government agency uses to pass a ruleor change a rule, which is how

(04:06):
laws are essentially implemented. And sofor reclassification, there are you know,
essentially three phases. One of thephases is to initiate the action, then
the agency develops the action, andthen they pass it. Finally, interestingly,
and I know we'll talk about thisa bit more. We're in the

(04:27):
last of the three phases of theprocess in the reclassification process for marijuana.
Really okay, so is this unusual? And when was the last time the
federal government decided to reclassify a drug? You know, it is, it's
very unusual. And what makes thiseven more unusual and important is the potential

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of reclassifying marijuana, you know,has the has the effect of being transformative.
And so there have been other drugsthat have been reclassified. Our highlight
of couple the most recent ones wasin twenty eighteen, where the federal government
reclassified a specific derivative of CBD sothat it could be used for those that

(05:19):
have severe epilepsy. There was alsoa change in twenty fourteen related to hydrocodone
as a result of some of theopioid abuse epidemic and the challenges we face
there. So it has happened,it just doesn't happen very often, and
it is a pretty linked process.Wow. So Michelle, you're in the

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drug testing business, so maybe youcan help our audiences know you know what
drugs are currently scheduled as classified asSchedule one along with marijuana. Absolutely,
so there are a number of drugsthat are actually under Scheduled one, and
some of them are you know,things that we're familiar with, such as
marijuana. You also have ecstasy.You have LSD as an example. And

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then there are some things that youknow, many may not know about,
such as bass saws right, Alot of you don't hear a lot of
conversation around bass saws right. Schedulethree you get into more like your talanol
with coding, you know, thingsthat a pharmacist might prescribe for medical use.
Wow. So Sean is a followup who actually determines the reclassification of

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marijuana. So the reclassification is reallyhandled primarily in the executive branch of the
government, the federal government, andit includes multiple agencies including Health and Human
Services as well as the Department ofJustice, which is the Drug Enforcement Administration.

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So together, hhs D and theDEA are involved in this reclassification process.
Florida voters will have the opportunity todecide if recreational marijuana should be legal.
So what do they need to knowabout the reclassification as it relates to
this. I think the most importantthing for voters to be aware of is

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that there is a distinct line betweenthe federal regulation of marijuana and the state
regulation of marijuana. And if youknow, voters choose up or down,
what the federal government does will ultimatelyhave an impact in Florida, but to
what extent is still very much unclear. So voters have to be just as

(07:41):
educated about federal policy and federal marijuanaissues as they are about the state and
not comfustitute, which can sometimes bevery difficult. Yeah, you know,
we've had a number of medical doctorsand physicians and researchers on the show,
and one of the things they saidabout out because of marijuana's current classification status,

(08:05):
there isn't a lot of research onhow marijuana works on the body,
you know, as far as onhuman beings. I'll put it like that.
So, Michelle, because you workin the industry where you're testing people
who are using these products and others, how does the reclassification impact marijuana research?

(08:28):
Absolutely? So, I think,first of all, Hidi, I
think that there are some groups thatwould probably argue that there are that there
is a lot of research that hasbeen done and that can be done to
be honest, take for example,a group like Parent Action Network. They
have a lot of research that isdone on marijuana, you know, just

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if you want to get more information. But the reschedule of marijuana would no
longer require a researcher to have alicense, right because marijuana is currently a
Schedule one drug. There is avery procedural uh you know, there's some
some tight loop, some tight tightness, you know, restriction around how do

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you get a license to actually performresearch and different things like that. So
it definitely would make room for moreresearch, which makes sense because if if
we were to uh loosen the restrictionon marijuana, you know, shifted from
Schedule on to Schedule three. Weneed to know so much more about the
way that it's going to be uhreintroduced right into our communities. Interesting,

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Sean, did you want to addto that? Sure, And I would
just add an agreement that right nowthere's limited research and interestingly, in order
to do research related to marijuana,it has to that particular marijuana that you're
studying can only be received through oneone entity. And so what this does

(09:58):
is it could potend actually open upthe ability for researchers to test other types
of marijuana and the impact that ithas on the body. So it is,
you know, it has been verylimited. So an example is if
someone is interested, you know,or institution is interested in studying the impact

(10:20):
that marijuana has on chronic pain,right now, they're not able to do
that unless they receive the marijuana fromyou know, one particular place. And
so it's been very difficult, almostimpossible to be able to test other types
of marijuana to see how it impactschronic pain. So that again there are

(10:43):
pros and cons and that's an exampleof the research opportunities that could potentially be
made available as rid of the rescheduling. Yeah, and I can imagine that
another issue that the general public isprobably asking right now since this announcement is
whether the reclassification will lead to thelegalization or the decriminalization of marijuana in the

(11:09):
US. Suan, what do youthink? So, again, it's interesting
because of the complexities from a comingfrom a regulatory standpoint, there are a
lot of regulatory complexities and hurdles thathave to be overcome, one in the
reclassification but also in the potential decriminalization. But one thing that was interesting as

(11:33):
I began my research, the proposedrule that the Department of the Department the
Drug Enforcement Administration has released was veryclear. The actual proposed rule that was
released says that even if it wererescheduled, the manufactured, distribution, dispensing,
and possession of marijuana will remain subjectto the applicable criminal prohibitions of the

(11:58):
control substance. And that is that'sclear in the rule. And it's also
important to note again that federal andstate interplay is that states have regulations and
rules related to the criminal aspect ofmarijuana and those would remain in place,
and states would still have the opportunityto enforce those as they saw fit.

(12:22):
So I think it opens the door, but it is not automatic, and
that's something that's important for folks tonote. Interesting, Michelle, did you
want to add to that. Yeah, I definitely would just piggyback on what
Sharon is saying. And there's alot of opportunity. There's an opportunity for

(12:43):
us to improve certain things, butthere's without proper research, investigation, analysis,
and process definition you know, conclusively, right, comprehensively, there's also
a lot of opportunity for us createsome chaos. So I think it's a
fifty to fifty right now, Haidiand Sharon as to like how it would

(13:05):
go probably going to be very toughfor us to make, you know,
surefi our predictions without having you know, represent ves from different facets of this
issue, you know, at atable and contribute it to the you know,
the conversation. And so maybe Michelle, you can kind of uh answer

(13:26):
this next question, what do youthink the pros and cons are of this
changing classification? So I'll take thepros first. So from a pro perspective,
I would go back to the researchaspect. You know, some of
the things that Sharon mentioned, youknow, we have an opportunity to look
at research marijuana from different perspectives anglesthat we had not previously had. Right,

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So I definitely think the research isa pro because we can make more
informed decisions with that information. It'snot theory, it's you know, it's
actual research data in facts. Iwould say that's probably the number one pro.
The con is, Remember at thebeginning, I mentioned those truck drivers,

(14:09):
and I say truck drivers because youknow truck drivers is that's something everybody
can understand. And I want tomake sure that people know that those truck
drivers have to pass a drug screento get on the road and to stay
on the road. Okay, sothose truck drivers, if this gets moved
to a Schedule three, if marijuanagets moved to Schedule three, I want

(14:31):
everyone to absolutely be aware that thosetruck drivers will no longer be tested for
marijuana because the DOT panel runs offthat Schedule one. Now I would imagine
that DOT may come back. Youknow, again, there may be some
further conversation and decisions made, butthose truck drivers could absolutely not have no

(14:54):
longer have to be tested for marijuana. And that's when you need to start
kind of looking into, you know, the implications of being under the influence
of a certain type of marijuana whileyou're on the road. So I would
say that that's a con. Andanother important con would also be that I
want to highlight for action is thatemployers, right, employers really need to

(15:16):
understand the implications of the rescheduling totheir drug and alcohol policies and programs.
We're at a point in time whereit is very tough to recruit and retain
talent, very tough to recruit andretain talent, So this could create further
chaos, meaning that an employer couldbe subject to a lawsuit, you know,

(15:39):
unfortunately, be subject to a lawsuitif this program their policy or their
programs don't support but they're actually doingboots on the ground, right. It
also could lead to you know,lower worker productivity and just you know,
there's also the potential that you couldbe dealing with you know, THAC and
do psychosis on job. So it'sjust a lot. I just think that

(16:03):
there's a lot of preparation that wewill all need to do as part of
the rescheduling if it goes through.And then I would wonder if how it
would impact your industry because you allare doing these drug testings right now for
employers all over the nation. Ifthis classification changes, how you know,
along with your industry, and youmentioned the transportation industry first, how would

(16:26):
it impact your industry and are thereany other industries that could be put into
an impact. Yeah, I thinkthat there are some in the industry who
think that it will put us outof business. I would say it would
absolutely not put us out of businessbecause marijuana isn't the only thing that we
test for, and marijuana isn't theonly drug problem in this country, right

(16:48):
and you know, I see thatall the time. There are employers who
have different panels, employers who havedifferent methods, so you know, there
are just so many things. SoI don't think that it's going to put
us as a drug testing industry outof business. I think that it actually
might create more opportunity because as thatresearch comes forward, you know, as

(17:11):
we start to see things materialize andactualize, there's probably still going to need
to be a response from drug testingoverall. So that's what I would say
in terms of and as also educationand awareness, employers might want to,
you know, call a company likeours in to say, hey, you
know, how can we be proactiveand educating our employees. Can you check

(17:34):
out our drug and alcohol policy andprogram. You know, we want to
be on the up and up.We don't want any risk you know,
to our firms. We'll have tocall you run in and represent us or
something. So you know. Soagain, I think what it does is
it creates an opportunity for us tocollaborate as a community hoti Maybe that's the

(17:56):
biggest pro out of all of it. This this decision, if it goes
through, it's going to need tobring us all to the table and we're
going to need to collaborate and figureout how to make this really work.
Sean, did you want to addto that? I would just add that
what Michelle mentions highlights just won thecomplexities and the length of time that you

(18:18):
know, it may take for thisreclassification if it passes to really you know,
trickle down and impact you know,people's lives and the industries. The
example with Department of Transportation, thisreclassification would definitely trigger the need to change
rules within d o T and otheragencies. And so that doesn't happen overnight,

(18:44):
and so we'll be seeing for yearsthe impact of the reclassification if it
passes on our lives and industries.Well, that's a good question. You
know what you just said makes mewonder and maybe you know this. If
the classification is approved, when willit take effect? That's a great question,
Hadi. So just a couple ofthings in terms of timeline. As

(19:07):
I mentioned early on, where andthe beginning of the third phase of the
process, which the Drug Enforcement Administrationhas already released its proposed rule. We're
in the phase now where the DAis taking public comment. That public comment
period ends towards the end of July. So then I tell how that how

(19:30):
would So people are listening and they'relike, I want to comment on it?
Where do they go? What dothey do? The easiest thing to
do is to go to the DrugEnforcement Enforcement Administration's website or dlj's website.
There is a link there that givesyou an opportunity to provide comment. That
is a major part of the process, hearing from various stakeholders, no matter

(19:53):
what side you're on as to theimpact of the proposed rules. So that
is open until the end of July. I believe that date is July twenty
second. After that, the DEAhas to provide a response, take in
the information, and then ultimately releasethe final rule and is in everything And

(20:18):
thank you Michelle for that shout outfor work. There is an opportunity for
this to be challenged, So Ijust mentioned that because I don't think we
should expect any day of ruling,but once the public comment period closes,
it can move rapidly. I mean, one of the things is this is

(20:41):
clearly a Biden administration priority, andso we can expect to have the agency
try at least to finalize it beforethe end of this calendar year, which
would be the end of President Biden'sterm, if not before. So just
terms of timeline, the rule willhave an effective date is usually thirty to

(21:03):
sixty days, So I think weall just have to stay tuned for the
late summer early fall when this willwill actually be finalized one way or the
other. Wow, So we mayhave to come back and have a second
conversation after a decision is made,so that we can educate our viewers and

(21:23):
listeners on what happens after that,right, what happens after approved. So
this has been a really informative conversation. I've learned so much, and I
know our listeners and viewers have aswell. So as we kind of wrap
up, I want to give youall a chance to share some closing thoughts
or just maybe some resources. AndSean, thank you for providing those two

(21:45):
websites for folks to go and learnmore, but just some closing thoughts on
the reclassification and just your perspective.So Michelle, I'm going to start with
you on that, as you aremaking your decision on voting, just make
sure that you are in full earnedand you know, having valuable resources such
as the ones that have been providedby Sharon, I think will empower you

(22:07):
to make really good decisions before youcast your vote. And I would say
that for employers connecting with you know, organizations like Mary and you know consultants
like Sharona myself, is going tobe very important so that you're making informed
decisions in your companies that help yousupport your workforce but also protect from a

(22:33):
corporate response responsibility standpoint, help youalso protect your stakeholders and the communities and
partners and clients that you have.Sure, I would like to close with
folks understanding that the reclassification, ifit passes is not does not mean that
once it's signed that marijuana is legal. It is not. That does not

(23:00):
make it recreational. That does notautomatically decriminalize it. And so oftentimes I
know that, you know, wetalk amongst ourselves, we follow certain bites
of information through the media and maybe misinformed. And so again it's important
to know that if you see onCNN or Fox News that it's been reclassified,

(23:22):
that does not mean that you're ableto go out and quote unquote enjoy
if that's your pleasure. So forme, that's important. Understand that the
federal change impacts research, it hassome economic impact, but it does not
have an immediate impact on some ofour own, you know, personal liberties.
So again, check out the resourcesthat are available and stay informed.

(23:47):
So, Sharon and Michelle, thoseare great closing thoughts, and I want
to thank you so much for beingguests on this Conversations on Cannabis Virtual form,
brought to you by the Medical MarijuanaEducation and Research Initiative at Florida and
M University. Thank you to everyonewatching this program. Tell us what you
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(24:08):
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will be entered into a drawing onJune sixth, twenty twenty, Florida when
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want to encourage you to go tothe Florida Department of Health Office of Medical
Marijuana Use website to learn how toobtain a legal medical marijuana card in the

(24:30):
state of Florida. We also encourageyou to go to the Florida A and
M University's merrywebsite to learn more aboutthis initiative, it's educational programs and additional
information about cannabis use in Florida.Thanks everyone. The views and opinions of
our invited guests are not necessarily theviews and opinions of Florida Agricultural and Mechanical

(24:53):
University or the Medical Marijuana Education andResearch Initiative.