Federal cannabis rescheduling has accidental effect in this state

When the Justice Department on Thursday issued a final order reclassifying medical marijuana as a Schedule 3 drug, fulfilling a December order from President Donald Trump, Tennessee was ready – to keep prohibition in place.

The same day the federal government officially recognized cannabis as medicine, Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee signed a state bill that blocked what would have otherwise been an automatic review of state statutes to align the state with Washington on the drug.

“Shockingly, President Trump is before Tennessee on this issue,” state Sen. London Lamar told Nashville-based WKRN.

The reaction comes in stark contrast to states’ relatively swift moves to ban or regulate hemp-derived THC to comply with a new federal redefinition of hemp that takes effect in November.

Amid serious, pressing questions about interstate commerce, pharmaceutical research and other new realities that may potentially be unlocked by the recognition of cannabis as a medicine under federal law, states are reacting cautiously, according to statements shared with MJBizDaily.

What does an old South Carolina law say about medical marijuana?

But like Tennessee, states that lack fully legalized adult-use cannabis may move more quickly than states even with now federally legal MMJ programs, where most regulators are adopting a wait-and-see approach.

In South Carolina, federal marijuana rescheduling could force state lawmakers to move on cannabis under a little-known, decades-old law, as the Charleston Post and Courier reported.

The state Controlled Substances Therapeutic Research Act of 1980 authorizes state regulators to start overseeing cannabis as part of a therapeutic research program, the newspaper reported.

“The program shall distribute to cancer chemotherapy and radiology patients and to glaucoma patients who are certified pursuant to this article marijuana under the terms and conditions of this article for the purpose of alleviating the patient’s discomfort, nausea and other painful side effects of their disease or chemotherapy treatments,” that law reads.

“The department shall promulgate regulations necessary for the proper administration of this article and in such promulgation, the department shall take into consideration those pertinent regulations promulgated by the Drug Enforcement Agency, U.S. Department of Justice; Food and Drug Administration; the National Institute on Drug Abuse; and the National Institutes of Health.”

But so far, health regulators are moving slowly, the newspaper reported.

“DPH is aware of the proposed rescheduling of medical marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act,” the agency said in a statement, The Post and Courier reported.

“We are assessing the impacts to DPH and the state of South Carolina.”

Separate legislation to legalize medical cannabis in the state has repeatedly failed despite support in the state Senate. This year, state Sen. Tom Davis, a past sponsor of failed marijuana bills, did not bother to file a draft, the newspaper reported.

And with less than a week left in the state legislative calendar, it’s unlikely South Carolina lawmakers will take action, the newspaper reported.

Does federal marijuana rescheduling change state cannabis law?

Elsewhere, state cannabis regulators are advising cannabis operators to continue conducting business as normal under state laws, which have not changed.

“The Department of Cannabis Control is reviewing last week’s federal rescheduling order,” California regulators said in response to a query from MJBizDaily.

“While details are still emerging, we’re encouraged by the potential to ease burdens on California’s legal operators – such as the potential relief from burdensome 280E tax restrictions and what appears to be a clearer pathway to serve medical cannabis patients,” the statement added.

But for now, this means no legal interstate commerce or any breakthroughs with banking access or institutional finance.