If you ask cannabis consumers, the consensus leans toward “no.”
A new poll conducted by the cannabis telehealth platform NuggMD reveals that the majority of consumers aren’t optimistic about the Trump administration completing full federal marijuana rescheduling by the end of the year. The survey, which interviewed 1,063 cannabis consumers in state-legal markets between July 2 and July 6, found that 52.5% of respondents do not expect the reform to be finalized this year. On the flip side, 47.5% of those surveyed are holding out hope and expect the rescheduling to be announced before the year is out.
This divided outlook comes on the heels of some significant, albeit partial, regulatory shifts. In April, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche issued an order that successfully reclassified state-licensed medical cannabis, as well as FDA-approved marijuana products, moving them from Schedule I to the less-restrictive Schedule III.
Now, the focus has shifted to the rest of the cannabis market. An ongoing Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) hearing is currently evaluating whether to extend this Schedule III reclassification to all other cannabis that is still federally prohibited.
With the DEA hearing scheduled to conclude by July 15, the clock is ticking. Consumers and industry stakeholders alike will soon find out if the government is ready to make sweeping changes, or if full rescheduling will be pushed further down the road.
Dabbin-Dad Newsroom
