Descheduling is the only necessary portion of legalization---everything else is debatable.
Gregory S. Toma 21, JD from Fordham University School of Law, BA from Rutgers, “License to Sell The Constitutionality of Durational Residency Requirements for Retail Marijauna Licenses,” Fordham Urban Law Journal, 47(5), Footnote 227, Lexis, kav
What exactly federal legalization would entail is debatable. See JONATHAN P. CAULKINS ET AL., RAND CORP., CONSIDERING MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION: INSIGHTS FOR VERMONT AND OTHER JURISDICTIONS 50 (2015), https://www-rand-org.proxy.lib.umich.edu/pubs/research_reports/RR864.html [https://perma.cc/64QA-BNPS] (describing 12 alternative ways to regulate marijuana). Establishing a three-tier system to regulate recreational marijuana is widely supported, especially by the alcohol industry. See Spencer Bokat-Lindell, What's the Right Way to Legalize Weed?, N.Y. TIMES (Nov. 19, 2019), https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/19/opinion/weed-legalization-biden.html [https://perma.cc/9DSF-YPCR]; see, e.g., Thomas Pellechia, Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America Group Supports Legalized Cannabis, FORBES (July 27, 2018, 10:21 AM), https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomaspellechia/2018/07/27/the-u-s-trade-group-representing-80-of-alcohol-sales-supports-legalized-cannabis/#1a19aa6d74c2 [https://perma.cc/UA7F-SGR2]. Regardless of the end result, the first step must be removing marijuana from Schedule I of the CSA, and the House Judiciary Committee recently approved a bill that does just that. See Berkeley Lovelace, Jr., House Committee Approves Landmark Bill Legalizing Marijuana at the Federal Level, CNBC (Nov. 21, 2019, 6:18 PM), https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/20/house-committee-approves-bill-decriminalizing-marijuana-on-the-federal-level.html [https://perma.cc/E9DZ-H8RK].