The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is considering a plan to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug. It’s a move that could increase access for medical marijuana patients in Georgia. Marijuana would remain illegal for recreational use in Georgia, but the proposal by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration on Tuesday could expand the state’s medical marijuana program, which currently serves about 18,000 registered patients through nine dispensaries.
The most direct impact would be to allow hundreds pharmacies to distribute medical marijuana, which is permitted under state law but was halted last year when the DEA warned that doing so could violate federal law. Georgia would have become the first state in the nation to authorize pharmacies to dispense the drug. If the proposal is approved, the government would move marijuana from a Schedule I drug to a Schedule III drug, placing it alongside drugs that have an accepted medical use such as ketamine, anabolic steroids and some acetaminophen-codeine combinations.
