ANALYSIS: Why Schedule III Won’t Fix Cannabis’s Legal Problems

The US cannabis industry is waiting for the Drug Enforcement Administration to announce whether it will reclassify cannabis as a Schedule III substance under the Controlled Substances Act. But such a move would fall short of addressing the barriers to growth and competition that, without remedy, will continue to push small businesses into the margins.

In a letter sent to the DEA last August and published Jan. 12, the Department of Health and Human Services recommended that cannabis be reclassified from Schedule I to Schedule III under the CSA. The DEA uses the statute to categorize drugs into five ...