COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – For the first time, federal researchers have acknowledged some health benefits to using marijuana – and Ohio’s medical marijuana may get cheaper because of it.
In August, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services formally recommended that the Drug Enforcement Administration reschedule marijuana to Schedule III, down from the Schedule I status it’s held for more than half a century. HHS’s recommendation, backed by the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institute on Drug Abuse, puts the ball in the DEA’s court to initiate the reclassification process.
In early January, the federal government released hundreds of pages of documents related to HHS’s recommendation, which followed a review of research and state data on medical and nonmedical marijuana use. The documents reveal that federal scientists acknowledged marijuana’s lower potential for abuse and adverse outcomes compared to other controlled substances – and that it has some medical value.
“Really, it’s almost like the perfect thing that the federal government could be doing right now to take a next significant step toward the normalization of cannabis,” said Jeff McCourt, CEO of marijuana cultivation and processing company Firelands Scientific.
Since 1970, cannabis has fallen under the most restricted category of substances. Ranking it alongside heroin and LSD, the DEA deems marijuana as having a high potential for abuse and no accepted medical use. But the HHS and FDA have determined the available data shows marijuana’s abuse and harm potential is much closer to ketamine, testosterone and other drugs available for prescription.
Marijuana can have harmful effects in high quantities, HHS’s recommendation emphasized, but doesn’t lead to dangerous outcomes for the “vast majority” of people who use it.
In a patient consultation room at The Landing, Firelands Scientific’s dispensary in Columbus’ Franklinton neighborhood, McCourt looked toward the future – within a year, he hopes – when the DEA issues its decision on reclassifying marijuana. Marijuana businesses would see the benefits of rescheduling most immediately in their pocketbooks.
Because cannabis is a Schedule I substance, marijuana businesses aren’t allowed to deduct most operating costs from their gross income. The prohibition amounts to an “enormous tax burden,” McCourt said.
Rescheduling marijuana, thereby lifting the tax burden, would “definitely” lead to lower costs for marijuana patients, said Andy Rayburn, CEO of Amplify dispensaries and Buckeye Relief. For cultivators and processors, like Buckeye Relief, Rayburn said taxes can be up to 20% higher than other businesses, while small dispensaries can owe over 50% more in taxes.
“That would probably bring more patients to the program and away from the illegal market,” Rayburn said.
It’s not the only perk for patients they expect to see.
In reviewing research into the medical benefits of cannabis, the FDA found “some credible scientific support” for using marijuana to treat pain, nausea, and anorexia caused by a medical condition, like cancer. The FDA is still far from approving any medication containing cannabis, but McCourt said its findings may give medical providers in Ohio more flexibility to discuss marijuana with their patients.
“A lot of doctors, unfortunately, cut off their patients from a clinical, pharmaceutical perspective if they know that they’re using medical cannabis products,” McCourt said. “That really can become a difficult conflict for patients that have other conditions they are trying to manage.”
In most cases, physicians, pharmacists and other healthcare workers must consult the Ohio Automated Rx Reporting System before prescribing or administering opioids or benzodiazepines. The system, called OARRS, tracks outpatient prescriptions for all controlled substances, including marijuana.
Both CEOs said providers regularly decline to prescribe opioids or benzodiazepines to patients who have purchased medical marijuana. Rayburn said many of his own friends have had prescriptions canceled due to their medical marijuana use.
McCourt understands why doctors may be hesitant to discuss marijuana use with their patients without FDA approval – and information from the clinical trials that would precede it. But federal health agencies’ acknowledgment of marijuana’s potential medical value and low abuse risk compared to other drugs could spur an attitude shift among healthcare providers.
Rayburn noted that rescheduling would also open opportunities for more research into medical uses of marijuana, which may spur states with medical programs like Ohio to add more conditions to their list of qualifying illnesses. That, in turn, McCourt hopes, would help integrate medical marijuana into Ohio’s healthcare system.
“It’s kind of been like this third wheel of the medical industry, where there’s only a certain subset of doctors that will touch it or talk about it or become experts in it, and it puts patients in that awkward juggling spot of having to figure it out on their own,” McCourt said.
If the DEA reschedules marijuana, its proposal must first go through a round of public comments and revisions before going into effect. That process typically takes months.
Read HHS’s recommendation and supporting documentation below.