Rescheduling for Reals
Plus: Hello Kitty lighters!
Wednesday, May 1, 2024
Time to read: About 5 minutes. Contains 1,174 words.
Good evening!
Whew, what a week in weed already! I figured I’d digest all the breakdowns and hot takes on this absolutely massive announcement about the DEA’s recommendation to reschedule cannabis before writing out my own.
It’s surreal to think about the changes I’ve been privileged to experience in my lifetime—brick-and-mortar dispensaries! Cannabis inhalers and suppositories! Bougie wine and weed country tours!—and how much more I may witness in the coming decades. Buckle up and clear your ashtrays, fam!
Let’s get into it.
One-Hitters: Cannabis News at a Glance
The Justice Department and Drug Enforcement Agency officially recommended rescheduling cannabis to Schedule 3. This does not mean cannabis was federally legalized or even descriminalized, but it is a big deal. Let’s break down what this means for now and what happens next.
What this means: Cannabis would be removed from Schedule 1 and the limitations therein, and put alongside less addictive substances like Tylenol with codeine, ketamine, and testosterone. Cannabis research would be able to go into hyperdrive. This does away with the Section 280E problem, opening up cannabis-related businesses’ abilities to deduct costs of doing business on their taxes. Many businesses are celebrating the multimillion-dollar tax cut this could bring about. Unfortunately, this does not impact people still serving time for cannabis-related offenses or dealing with a cannabis charge on their record.
What happens next: The White House Office of Management and Budget will now assess the recommendation, and if and when it moves forward, a 60-day public comment period kicks off. After a judge’s review, the final rule will then be published. Cannabis reporter Jeremy Berke predicts that these decisions are likely to be “done and dusted prior to the November election” in today’s Cultivated newsletter covering the news. Even if this move is a strategic one by the Biden administration to garner positive support from younger voters, there’s real pressure for him to actually make it happen prior to November in order for us to take it seriously.
What remains to be seen: A lot. It isn’t yet clear how this will impact state-legal cannabis businesses regarding banking access or how that answer might be different for medical vs. adult-use-licensed businesses. It’s also a big question around whether adult-use markets will be able to continue their operations as is or if they’d have to adapt to all cannabis being treated like a pharmaceutical medication. (Many experts predict it won’t affect state adult-use markets.)
How I feel about it: I am not the best-versed in legal matters, but overall, I’m feeling excited. This will help a lot of businesses significantly lower their overhead costs and become more sustainable in the long run. This federal acknowledgment of cannabis’ medical qualities will ease some people’s fears about cannabis being an addictive, dangerous drug, and subsequently bring in more investment capital.Now, I am a bit freaked out about the potential pharmaceutical implications. For example: Schedule 3 substances are regulated by the DEA, which means, in theory, that cannabis dispensaries would possibly have to register with the DEA like traditional pharmacies and follow strict reporting requirements. (Most don’t think that will happen, but it’s technically possible). It also means cannabis could eventually be prescribed by a doctor, which is cool, but the thought of Big Pharma having weed gummies at Walgreens faster than anyone else does stress me out.
I hope this is the first of many changes, and that Congress will see the value in creating a new regulatory system for cannabis—a plant that falls so uniquely between medicine and recreation; an intoxicating substance and a mellowing herb. How do you feel about this news? Feel free to start chatting in the comment section.
MedMen filed for bankruptcy. If you listened to or read my interview with Kush Queen founder Olivia Alexander, you saw this coming. I guess if you caught any of the recent headlines or LinkedIn posts about them owing vendors money, you saw this coming.
A movement to transition from factory farming to hemp horticulture. High Times highlighted The Transfarmation Project, an organization that provides resources and support to industrial animal farmers interested in transitioning their farms to plant-focused operations. I love this! I spend a lot of time stressing about the US factory farming industrial complex, how poorly animals are treated, how much more meat we eat than we nutritionally need, and how much of those animals’ lives go to waste. Just like with weed, I want to see unreasonably large industrial farms fail and more small-scale farms and ranches serve their nearby communities. This project has helped five farms transition from contributing to massive poultry farms to growing hemp, mushrooms, and vegetables.
Scottish teens experiment with cannabis at a higher rate. According to the World Health Organization, fifteen-year-old boys in Scotland have the highest rate of smoking cannabis in this early teen/preteen age bracket. The study on adolescent use reviewed data from 280,000 children aged 11, 13, and 15 from 44 countries around the world. While 23% of Scottish boys admitted to trying cannabis at some point, only 13% of boys and 6% of girls in Scotland said they had consumed it in the last 30 days. Overall, the numbers are still down for youth cannabis consumption compared to recent years.
California legislators attempt to take the THC out of hemp offerings (again). Gov. Gavin Newsom has directed the California Department of Public Health and the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control to lean in regarding ensuring operators are following the state’s special regulations for hemp products. Per the Sherman Act, any THC isolates, including any “chemically synthesized cannabinoids, such as delta-8 THC, delta-10 THC, THC-O, and HHC,” are prohibited, and manufacturers of hemp products must follow specific labeling, testing, and reporting guidelines. Of course, not everyone is playing by the rules. This is Gov. Newsom’s attempt to ensure safer, less intoxicating products are readily available.
New indie horror film TRIM SEASON coming June 2024. This very, very independent production doesn’t look like it’s going to launch any of the crew into stardom, but the themes and visuals playing up the latent tension true to an old-school, remote cannabis farm look fun as hell. Not positive where (if?) it will end up streaming—at the very least, we can watch the trailer.
High Finds: Conversation Starters
Just when this Pisces thinks she has every weed accessory she could ever need, she spots this adorable handmade sardine chillum by Day Ceramics. The palm-sized ceramic piece is fired with a nontoxic and lead-free glaze.
Edie Parker’s new Sharpie-shaped doob tube is so good. That’s all.
WEED’D just dropped the perfect icebreaker toolkit. Made in collaboration with Actually Curious, the bundle includes a limited edition version of their pipe and tray combo and a pack of AC’s conversation card game of 52 questions.
Don’t tell Sanrio, but Girly Blaze Accessories is making extremely cute refillable lighters and light-up joint cases emblazoned with Hello Kitty and friends.
Cheers to change,
Lauren Yoshiko