Alaska marijuana industry expert reacts to feds’ potential move to ease restrictions

JUNEAU, Alaska (KTUU) – Alaskans on Tuesday reacted to reports from multiple sources that the Biden Administration intends to reclassify regulation of cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III, altering its categorization to match drugs considered to be less dangerous. Schedule I is the most strict, and includes drugs such as heroin and LSD. Schedule III, where cannabis is expected to soon move, includes Tylenol with codeine and anabolic steroids.

Additionally, Schedule I is a category for drugs considered to have no medical use and a high potential for abuse, whereas Schedule III is classified as having moderate to low potential for dependence, and can be used for medicinal purposes.

Attorney Jana Weltzin – who is a board member with the Alaska Marijuana Industry Association – said the potential move by the federal government would be a huge benefit for businesses, because they would no longer be treated like “drug traffickers.” She also said such a change to reschedule the drug would be a relief for many businesses, in the event that they could deduct business expenses when filing taxes.

“That’s a very helpful thing,” she said. “We go from having all this phantom income, because there are all these expenses that you have to attribute to your net income and pay taxes on. To be able to capture those regular business expenses and be able to deduct them, like a normal business, that really helps. There’s nothing about this rescheduling that hurts so far, nothing that hurts a business.”

Weltzin said reclassifying cannabis from a Schedule I to a Schedule III substance does not necessarily mean marijuana will be legal for medical reasons across the country, and it will not legalize marijuana outright for recreational use, but it does mean the federal government recognizes it has value medically. As far as the move possibly leading to wide-sweeping change by the federal government to legalize marijuana, Weltzin said there could be unintended consequences.

“You get interstate commerce,” she said. “State of Alaska excise tax as it currently stands could be completely out the window. And then the state is out roughly $2 million a month in marijuana excise tax. And so, we have to be careful and artful about how we think about federal legalization, and really engage with the stakeholders.

“It really should be more of a state rights approach,” she continued, “rather than just a sweeping federal change, because a lot of the businesses that are built specifically under the state programs could not survive a federal landscape if it’s not done correctly.”

Several state lawmakers who were asked on Tuesday if the potential move by the federal government could disrupt any legislation in the works this session declined to comment.

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