A top official with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services this week called on the Drug Enforcement Administration to reclassify marijuana under federal drug laws in a move that would ease restrictions on the drug. In an August 29 letter from HHS Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine to Drug Enforcement Administration head Anne Milgram cited by Bloomberg News, the health agency recommended that cannabis be removed from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). Under the recommendation, cannabis would be rescheduled under Schedule III, a less restrictive classification that would ease research into cannabis and likely give a boost to the beleaguered regulated marijuana industry.

The new HHS recommendation to reschedule marijuana under the CSA follows an extensive scientific review of cannabis conducted by the Food and Drug Administration that was prompted by a directive from President Joe Biden in October 2022 for his administration to review the Schedule I classification of cannabis under federal law, which indicates that marijuana has no accepted medical value and a high potential for abuse. At the same time, he issued an executive order pardoning those who have been convicted of simple marijuana possession under federal law and called on governors to take similar action at the state level.

“The federal government…