Benzinga - by Maureen Meehan, Benzinga Editor.
Cannabis companies and legalization advocates are applauding President Joe Biden's Thursday announcement that formalizes the rescheduling process that will finally move cannabis from the DEA's Schedule I to Schedule III.
"This change represents a major leap forward and an opportunity to correct a long-standing wrong which has disproportionally impacted marginalized communities, inhibited research, and restrained the responsible growth of the U.S. cannabis industry," said David Klein, CEO of Canopy Growth (NASDAQ:CGC).
“In addition to setting an important precedent and paving the way for additional reform including full legalization, rescheduling is especially significant as it provides an immediate and significant improvement to the cashflow of all state-legal cannabis businesses including those within Canopy USA."
Kim Rivers, CEO of Trulieve (OTCQX:TCNNF), didn’t hold back. “Today is historic!” she said.
"Today is historic! Cannabis is moving to schedule III. We applaud the President and his administration for making federal cannabis reform a priority." – CEO @rivers_kim pic.twitter.com/afZV4smOby— Trulieve (@Trulieve) May 16, 2024
The transformative news for the cannabis market comes ahead of Benzinga’s Cannabis Capital Conference, which returns to Chicago Oct. 8-9.
David Hart, CEO of The Cannabist Company (OTC:CBSTF), one of the largest and most experienced cultivators in the U.S., called Thursday's news momentous.
"Our federal government has finally formally accepted that cannabis has medicinal value and is following the science that we in this industry have understood and poured our collective passion into while supporting this movement and building our businesses."
Hart noted the benefit of moving cannabis to Schedule III in terms of taxes. “The end of the 280E tax code for cannabis businesses will allow us to operate our business more sustainably and reinvest more deeply into our teams, innovation, and product development to benefit the communities we serve,” he said.
With cannabis categorized by the DEA as a Schedule I substance, cannabis companies have not been allowed to deduct normal business expenses.