MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday ordered an immediate change to the classification of medical cannabis. It is considered a major shift in marijuana policy by moving it out of the most dangerous class of drugs. This could open up research, and the legal marijuana industry is hoping it will help how they bank and pay taxes. Joining us to tell us more about this is Colorado Public Radio reporter Ben Markus. Ben, good morning.
BEN MARKUS, BYLINE: Good morning.
MARTIN: So what exactly does the order say, and how will it affect marijuana businesses?
MARKUS: So this order moves medical marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III. So rather than being in the same category as, like, heroin, it'll be in the same category as anabolic steroids or Tylenol with codeine. That's expected to normalize the business, meaning it could possibly open up more banking services, allow customers to use credit cards. It could allow businesses to make common tax deductions that they can't right now. This order is for medical, though. DOJ did say that it's moving fast to more broadly reschedule marijuana, which would be good for recreational businesses. Sam Kamin is a law professor at the University of Denver, who's been studying marijuana policy for more than a decade.
SAM KAMIN: And you see here Trump in a very Trumpian way saying, it's not happening fast enough. Make it happen faster.
MARKUS: While this doesn't legalize marijuana, Kamin said this is a historic first step.
MARTIN: The order, as I understand it, does not apply to recreational marijuana. How does that work? Is that the dominant market in states like Colorado?
MARKUS: Yeah. So for medical-only states like Florida or Oklahoma, this will benefit them more quickly. Colorado's medical market has shrunk every year since recreational cannabis was legalized in the state. So medical has become pretty small here. It's about 10% the size of the recreational market, which had $1.2 billion in sales last year.
Tim Cullen, he started Colorado Harvest Company as a medical marijuana business and switched to recreational fully in 2014. So even though Thursday's order doesn't impact his business immediately, he's still hopeful that this signifies a major shift for all cannabis.
TIM CULLEN: Well, I'm excited about it. It's the largest federal move that's happened since I've been in this industry, which is coming up on 17 years now.
MARKUS: Now, the Justice Department says it will expedite that broader review of marijuana, which could include recreational. An administrative hearing is scheduled for June, and that's lightning fast for the federal government on this issue.
MARTIN: Oh, that's certainly true. So it's a relief for states that are majority medical marijuana. It's a relief for business, but it's wait and see on recreational. But talk about research. How will this order open up research into marijuana?
MARKUS: So the Department of Justice said that this provides a long-term solution for researchers who want to study medical cannabis. But the researchers I spoke with in Colorado said it may not have as big an impact for them. What they want to do is buy recreational products off the shelf for testing, the kinds of products that consumers actually use, like high-potency concentrates and vape pens or edibles. And they say there's also a larger stigma around funding for marijuana research generally.
MARTIN: Are there legal challenges expected to this order?
MARKUS: Advocates against marijuana, they continue to caution about the impact on kids of loosening marijuana policy. So the cannabis supporters, they're cautiously optimistic that this is a permanent change, but they do expect challenges. It's not a done deal yet, and attorneys from all sides will be picking this complex order apart for some time.
MARTIN: That's Colorado Public Radio's Ben Markus. I do want to mention, he's been reporting on marijuana policy since the state legalized it in 2012. Ben, thanks.
MARKUS: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
