Medical marijuana patients fall to the bottom of the list when it comes to the federal government
Pardons are a priority of marijuana rescheduling, affecting patients, veterans and more. reality TV personality Todd Chrisley, convicted of bank fraud and tax evasion received a pardon, highlighting a troubling inconsistency in American justice. While celebrities with financial crimes, wealth and power are granted clemency, millions of Americans—many suffering from chronic illness—continue to be denied access to potentially life-improving medical marijuana due to its outdated Schedule I classification. This classification, which defines a substance as having “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse,” stands in direct contradiction to current scientific and governmental consensus.
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In 2023, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) officially recommended rescheduling marijuana to Schedule III. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has supported this move, which would finally recognize cannabis as having medical value and allow for expanded research. Rescheduling would also enable doctors and researchers to better study its therapeutic potential, which includes treating epilepsy, chronic pain, PTSD, and chemotherapy-induced nausea.
The injustice becomes even more glaring when considering the people most impacted by marijuana prohibition. For decades, low-income individuals h ave borne the brunt of marijuana-related arrests, while states who have legalized cannabis are now reaping enormous economic benefits. In 2024 alone, legal cannabis sales generated over $30 billion in revenue nationwide, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs and millions in tax income used for education, healthcare, and public infrastructure.
Yet despite overwhelming bipartisan public support for reform and compelling economic and medical arguments, the federal government continues to drag its feet. Meanwhile, the legal system displays leniency for wealthy and well-connected individuals like Chrisley, who exploited financial systems for personal gain. This double standard undermines faith in justice and ignores the suffering of patients and families who could benefit from legal access to medical marijuana.
Andrew Cooper, an attorney at the law firm Falcon Rappaport & Berkman LLP which covers the marijuana industry shares “Cannabis reform has seen little progress since the cancelling of the rescheduling hearings by Administrative Law Judge Mulrooney as a result of the stay imposed as a result of the interlocutory appeal granted by ALJ Mulrooney. The appeal followed the denial of a proponent’s motion seeking the DEA’s removal from the cannabis rescheduling proceedings entirely, under the assertion that the DEA improperly communicated with and, were seemingly aligned with anti-rescheduling participants selected as witnesses for the hearings. It doesn’t appear that any progress has been made towards resuming the rescheduling hearings, causing some concern that the DEA is content to stall this process. While the movants could eventually try to force the DEA to action, for now it appears to be a waiting game.”
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The path forward is clear. The Biden administration must act swiftly to follow through on the HHS and FDA’s recommendations, reclassify marijuana, and correct a long-standing policy failure that has harmed public health and denied economic opportunity. A justice system that forgives the privileged while punishing the sick and marginalized is not justice at all. If America can pardon Todd Chrisley, it can surely show the same compassion and logic to millions who simply want access to medicine and fairer laws.
