US president Joe Biden has called for a scheduling review of cannabis. Changing the schedule (rescheduling) or removing a controlled substance like cannabis completely from the schedules in the CSA (descheduling) can be done in two ways – by legislation or by administrative action. Legislation obviously requires Congress to pass a bill, but administrative action can be commenced at the request of certain agencies, like the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), as is the case here.
This report will examine the procedure, potential outcomes, and implications of this scheduling review.