Photo: MariMed
NORWOOD, Mass. (WBZ News Radio) – Local companies are feeling optimistic, after President Donald Trump signed an executive order to reclassify marijuana. The order instructs the Department of Justice reclassify cannabis as a Schedule III substance.
“The government is going to treat cannabis more like Tylenol with codeine, and less like heroin,” said Ryan Crandall, the Chief Commercial Officer of MariMed.
MariMed is a multi-state cannabis production company based in Norwood. Crandall said the industry often isn’t easy to navigate, because cannabis is still illegal at the national level. Often bank loans are hard to get approved in the cannabis industry, and credit cards can’t be used for transactions even in weed-legal states like Massachusetts. Crandall thinks the reclassification would generally ease some of the issues cannabis businesses run into with credit card companies, banks, and filing taxes.
As it stands now cannabis is considered Schedule I — the same class as heroin, LSD, and ecstasy. Those drugs don't have a generally accepted medical use and are considered to have high potential for abuse. The proposed Schedule III classification puts cannabis in the same category as ketamine and anabolic steroids — substances that are controlled but are known to have medical uses.
The process of rescheduling was started under former president Joe Biden and has no formal timeline. Earliest estimates have a
“I don’t think anything is a light switch, but I do think its starts a trajectory that will make things better for the industry,” said Crandall.
WBZ NewsRadio’s Chaiel Schaffel (@CSchaffelWBZ) reports.