How Will Federal Cannabis Rescheduling Affect the Average User?

Dear Stoner: For the average stoner, is rescheduling cannabis to Schedule III a good thing? I'm looking for the short, wiki version of this.
Eazy V

Dear Eazy V: So far, all we have to work with is a report from the Associated Press about the DEA's intentions to reclassify cannabis after a public feedback session, but the DEA hasn't announced anything yet. Still, the AP calling it the "last significant regulatory hurdle before the agency’s biggest policy change in more than fifty years" isn't an overstatement.

Cannabis business owners focus on the tax implications of reclassifying from Schedule I to Schedule III, as they're all eager for lower tax rates — because of federal prohibition, cannabis business owners can't receive tax breaks, so their final tax rates can reach around 70 percent — but Schedule III includes drugs like ketamine and anabolic steroids, so I'm not yet sold that recreational businesses will qualify for any new tax breaks. When was the last time you saw retail ketamine or steroids legally for sale without a prescription?

Activists worry that reclassification will push the plant into the hands of pharmaceutical companies, which isn't a crazy prediction, either. But it's not like mass-produced cannabis can get much worse, anyway. Anyone who's bought a $60 ounce from a dispensary knows what I'm talking about.
Based on how slow and ineffective national hemp and CBD regulations have been, I'm betting on much of the status quo remaining for dispensary shoppers and regular folk until Congress does anything meaningful. Still, I hope this helps the medical marijuana industry and advances clinical research. At the very least, it's movement toward some form of legalization, which is further than we were last month. Slow motion is better than no motion.

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