Schedule 3 still prevents research.
Jennifer Peltz 24, Associated Press; Lindsay Whitehurst, Associated Press, 5/1/2024, “What reclassifying marijuana means for Americans,” https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/what-reclassifying-marijuana-means-for-americans, kav
Because marijuana is on Schedule I, it’s been very difficult to conduct authorized clinical studies that involve administering the drug. That has created something of a Catch-22: calls for more research, but barriers to doing it. (Scientists sometimes rely instead on people’s own reports of their marijuana use.)
Schedule III drugs are easier to study, though the reclassification wouldn’t immediately reverse all barriers to study.
“It’s going to be really confusing for a long time,” said Ziva Cooper, director of the University of California, Los Angeles Center for Cannabis and Cannabinoids. “When the dust has settled, I don’t know how many years from now, research will be easier.”
Among the unknowns: whether researchers will be able to study marijuana from state-licensed dispensaries and how the federal Food and Drug Administration might oversee that.