The American Pharmacists Association (APhA) took part in a White House ceremony on Dec. 18 to mark the reclassification of marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule III drug.
In explaining its support of the reclassification, APhA said in a Dec. 18 press release, “Marijuana’s Schedule I classification imposes strict regulatory requirements that make it difficult for researchers and scientists to obtain it for study. APhA believes that moving marijuana to Schedule III will help accelerate research into its medicinal applications and potentially lead to safer and more effective therapeutic uses.”
According to the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), drugs are sorted into five categories — known as schedules — “depending upon the drug’s acceptable medical use and the drug’s abuse or dependency potential. The abuse rate is a determinate factor in the scheduling of the drug; for example, Schedule I drugs have a high potential for abuse and the potential to create severe psychological and/or physical dependence.”
The DEA describes Schedule III drugs, substances or chemicals as having “a moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence. Schedule III drugs abuse potential is less than Schedule I and Schedule II drugs, but more than Schedule IV.”
Schedule I drugs include heroin and LSD. Schedule III drugs include Tylenol with codeine, ketamine, anabolic steroids, and testosterone.
“APhA supports regulatory changes that facilitate clinical research on the efficacy and safety of cannabis and its components,” the association said. “While cannabis offers therapeutic potential, concerns remain about drug interactions and opportunities for optimization — areas that require pharmacy expertise.
“As the medication experts, pharmacists support patients in their overall medication management, which include prescription and over-the-counter medications and other medicinal substances. It is essential that pharmacists know about interactions with all products a patient is taking; modifying regulatory access to cannabis will increase research availability to ascertain drug and condition interactions for pharmacist management.”
Other health care organizations that supported reviewing the classification of and/or rescheduling marijuana include the American Medical Association, the American College of Physicians, the American College of Emergency Physicians, the American Association of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, and the U.S. Pain Foundation.
Those groups were cited in a 2024 Marijuana Policy Project letter to the DEA that said, “Quite simply: cannabis has currently accepted medical use. … This is reflected in news media, popular culture, state laws and the lived experiences of millions of Americans and their health care providers. It is also backed up by polls of health care providers and Americans writ large.”
