Legal Corner|| Cause to Celebrate

As
4/20 approaches, the cannabis community has cause to celebrate. We have been
handed a gift by Senators Cory Booker of New Jersey
and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York—both Democrats— and Rand Paul, a Republican
of Kentucky in the form of the CARERS Bill. The Compassionate Access, Research
Expansion, and Respect States (CARERS) Act, would strengthen statewide medical cannabis
protections and impose various changes to federal law. Never one to look a gift
horse in the mouth, the CARERS bill is moderate but welcomes federal reform.

What exactly is inside this gift from the Senators? The most
talked about component of the bill is the reclassification of cannabis under the
Controlled Substance Act (CSA). Currently, cannabis is placed alongside LSD,
ecstasy and heroin as a Schedule I drug. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)
classifies Schedule 1 drugs as holding no currently accepted medical use and having
a high potential for abuse. The CARERS Act would reclassify cannabis as a
Schedule II drug, joined by cocaine, OxyContin, Adderall and Ritalin. Schedule
II drugs are considered substances with a high potential for abuse but also
recognized to have some medical value when administered under a doctor’s
supervision.

The reclassification is the most buzzed about provision of the
CARERS Act. However, this provision is likely to have an uphill battle. In
reality, authority to reschedule cannabis or to remove a drug from the schedule
entirely rests with the president, the attorney general and the administrator
of the DEA. Jeremy Daw, of The Leaf
Online writes, “Passage of the CARERS Act could possibly be interpreted by
courts to supersede the delegation provisions of the CSA, thereby truncating
the authority of the executive branch to reschedule again on its own. That
would mean that any further loosening of cannabis restrictions through the CSA
would require another vote of Congress instead of a petition to the DEA.” Furthermore, it’s also possible that this provision of
the CARERS Act could be found unconstitutional.

Along with the reclassification, a provision that has the cannabis
community cheering is descheduling low-THC strains of cannabis. There are
multiple strains with little to no THC, but with high levels of CBD. CARERS
would remove cannabis with less than 0.3 percent THC from the CSA’s schedules
altogether, allowing states to import low-THC/high-CBD strains for patients who
need it.

An additional provision drawing excitement is the bill’s attempt
to make it easier for banks to provide services to the cannabis
industry. CARERS contains some very needed provisions preventing criminal prosecutions
of banks and bank execs who choose to do business with legal cannabis
businesses. However, a closer look at the bill shows that banks would still
have to adhere to the extremely strict and onerous reporting requirements put
forth in 2013. Cannabis advocates believe that the bill does not go far enough to
truly open up banking options for the legal cannabis industry.

CARERS would also reform the process by which private
researchers can get access to medical cannabis. Getting the federal government
to sign off on a cannabis study is nothing short of impossible. It’s obvious
that the deficit of cannabis science in America is directly linked the federal
government’s barriers to cannabis research. Only one federally legal cannabis
garden exists in the U.S. and the National Institute on Drug Abuse oversees its
operation and studies. It seems that the only cannabis research that gets
funded are studies that focus on the negative impact of cannabis. The failure
to reschedule prior to the CARERS bill has been viewed as purposeful to
obstruct further research of the plant. CARERS would allow for no less than
three other licensed sources for research grade cannabis and this provision builds
great hope to promising research on the medical value of cannabis.

Last, CARERS seeks to provide relief to veterans who need
medical cannabis. Under CARERS, VA doctors would be able to recommend medical cannabis
to their veteran patients suffering from certain conditions, where it is legal
to do so under state law.

The overall goal of the bill is to allow for patients, doctors
and businesses to participate in their states’ medical cannabis programs
without fear of being prosecuted by the federal government, which continues to
ban the substance in all forms. While there are some obvious questions and
critiques of the bill, it is a long overdue step forward when it comes to
reforming cannabis laws at the federal level. The bill will now have to pass
review by many committees and a vote of the full Senate.