If marijuana becomes a Schedule II drug, the FDA would subject companies to intense inspections and testing. Companies would need to get their packaging and labeling approved by the FDA; the Federal Trade Commission would be there to ensure companies don't sink to unfair or deceptive marketing and advertising practices. If marijuana was de-scheduled, and placed into the same category of alcohol and tobacco, it would fall under the purview of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. That has its own maw of legal hoops to maneuver.
If the FDA came out and said we are making cannabis Schedule II and the entire industry didn't change, the whole industry would be illegally trafficking a Schedule II substance," says Hank Levy, a CPA for marijuana companies, including Harborside, one of the largest dispensaries in the nation. Simply put, the industry as it stands today would not be legal under a whole set of other laws.
What if the DEA and FDA do the same thing to marijuana as they did with opium and outlaw the actual plant and only permit pharmaceutical pills? What would the marijuana industry do if suddenly pot was only legal in pill form?
De-scheduling would allow use for non-medical, recreational purposes like alcohol.
If the DEA de-schedules marijuana, big tobacco companies could take over, and the fears of many anti-marijuana advocates would be realized. Rescheduling would allow use like a regular prescription issued by a physician and filled by a pharmacy under a DEA license, like Codeine. If this happened, marijuana prescriptions would almost certainly be allowed only in traditional medicinal forms, such as pills and extract drops and perhaps topical lotions and nebulizers. It’s unlikely that the DEA and the Food and Drug Administration would allow prescriptions for smokable marijuana or pot brownies and other edibles.
Because prescriptions are not taxed, state and local jurisdictions would lose millions of dollars in tax revenues. Colorado collected nearly $135 million in medical and recreational marijuana taxes and license fees in 2015 on a combined medical and recreational market of nearly $1 billion. With a prescription-only industry, states would lose their current marijuana-related jobs to existing pill-manufacturing companies.
Remember all legislative powers are granted by the people and therefore are privileges that can also taken away by the people. "It's a plant and it can grow anywhere. The only way they can take it away from us is if we give it to them."
shag
If the FDA came out and said we are making cannabis Schedule II and the entire industry didn't change, the whole industry would be illegally trafficking a Schedule II substance," says Hank Levy, a CPA for marijuana companies, including Harborside, one of the largest dispensaries in the nation. Simply put, the industry as it stands today would not be legal under a whole set of other laws.
What if the DEA and FDA do the same thing to marijuana as they did with opium and outlaw the actual plant and only permit pharmaceutical pills? What would the marijuana industry do if suddenly pot was only legal in pill form?
De-scheduling would allow use for non-medical, recreational purposes like alcohol.
If the DEA de-schedules marijuana, big tobacco companies could take over, and the fears of many anti-marijuana advocates would be realized. Rescheduling would allow use like a regular prescription issued by a physician and filled by a pharmacy under a DEA license, like Codeine. If this happened, marijuana prescriptions would almost certainly be allowed only in traditional medicinal forms, such as pills and extract drops and perhaps topical lotions and nebulizers. It’s unlikely that the DEA and the Food and Drug Administration would allow prescriptions for smokable marijuana or pot brownies and other edibles.
Because prescriptions are not taxed, state and local jurisdictions would lose millions of dollars in tax revenues. Colorado collected nearly $135 million in medical and recreational marijuana taxes and license fees in 2015 on a combined medical and recreational market of nearly $1 billion. With a prescription-only industry, states would lose their current marijuana-related jobs to existing pill-manufacturing companies.
Remember all legislative powers are granted by the people and therefore are privileges that can also taken away by the people. "It's a plant and it can grow anywhere. The only way they can take it away from us is if we give it to them."
shag