Nevada District Judge rules cannabis can no longer be classified as a Schedule 1 drug

This article was republished with permission from Benzinga.

A Nevada judge has ruled on a closely watched lawsuit that may set federal precedent. He noted that the Nevada Board of Pharmacy can no longer list cannabis as a Schedule 1 drug. It was a clear victory for Nevada’s American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which filed the lawsuit back in April 2022.

District Judge Joe Hardy Jr. on Wednesday joined the ACLU in arguing that marijuana has an accepted medical use because voters amended the state constitution in 2000 to legalize medical marijuana. He ordered the Board of Pharmacy to remove cannabis from the Schedule 1 drug list, although the timeline for such action is unclear.

A judge just ruled that cannabis can no longer be classified as a Schedule 1 drug without medical use by the Nevada Board of Pharmacy because it violates the state constitution.

Big win for common sense.

— Local Las Vegas 🌴 (@LasVegasLocally) September 14, 2022

The original basis for the lawsuit was that despite the passage of the Nevada Medical Marijuana Act and the initiative to regulate and tax marijuana, the state — specifically, the Nevada State Board of Pharmacy — failed to uphold the will of Nevada voters, the state constitution and the State of Nevada Revised Statutes. Rather than remove cannabis and cannabis derivatives from its controlled substances list (NAC 453.510), the Board has continued to regulate them as Schedule 1 substances – similar to hardcore drugs with no medical use.

By definition, a Schedule 1 drug is classified as having no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. Because medical cannabis programs are deeply rooted in the state of Nevada, the designation of cannabis seems at odds with the drug’s well-established known medicinal uses. This is precisely the contradiction the ACLU wanted to force a decision on:

“Today’s decision by Nevada’s Board of Pharmacy that cannabis cannot be classified as a Schedule 1 substance without violating the Nevada Constitution reaffirms what people in this state have known for decades, that marijuana has medicinal value and can be safely distributed to the public. ” – Legal Director for Nevada ACLU Chris Peterson.

While the Board of Pharmacy has had every opportunity to remove marijuana itself from its Schedule 1 list, it has adamantly resisted rescheduling cannabis in Nevada. Despite the will of the people, it appears to align with the Federal Guidelines (DEA), which continue to list cannabis as a Schedule 1 drug. In that hearing, the attorney representing the Board of Pharmacy argued that federal authorities had failed to determine that marijuana had an accepted medical use.

While Judge Hardy sided with the ACLU on the cannabis reclassification, he paused from making decisions on issues related to the overturning of convictions for marijuana-related crimes because the ACLU’s lawsuit failed to address the issue.

This article was republished with permission from Benzinga.