US health regulators move some marijuana products from Schedule I to Schedule III

The US Justice Department has reclassified certain marijuana-derived drug products, moving them from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act. This means FDA-approved marijuana medications are now treated like other prescription drugs with a moderate potential for abuse, rather than substances with no accepted medical use.

For decades, federal law treated all marijuana as a dangerous drug with no medical value, even if it was in an FDA-approved medicine. This made it difficult for companies to research, manufacture, and distribute these products. The change means that companies making FDA-approved marijuana drugs will now operate under a more standard regulatory system, similar to other prescription pharmaceuticals.