JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Action News Jax is hearing from a Jacksonville attorney specializing in marijuana law to break down the possible impacts, in Florida and Georgia, of President Trump’s executive order calling on the drug to be classified as less dangerous.
The president’s order directs the U.S. attorney general to classify marijuana as a ‘Schedule III’ drug, instead of a ‘Schedule I’ drug. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has placed drugs like heroin, fentanyl, and LSD in the ‘Schedule I’ category, which the administration defines as drugs without an accepted medical use. The DEA defines ‘Schedule III’ drugs, like ketamine and testosterone, as drugs that have an accepted medical use.
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Michael Ranka is a criminal defense attorney running a practice in Jacksonville, and told Action News Jax the executive order doesn’t make marijuana any more legal in either Florida or Georgia, but does open up the door for more federal research of the drug to be used for medical purposes.
“This is certainly big news, but it doesn’t give people a blank check to do whatever they want with marijuana,” Rainka said.
Right now, Florida law allows marijuana to be bought and used by people with a valid medical card, but using the drug recreationally is illegal. Action News Jax told you last year that when Florida voters came close to passing a constitutional amendment to legalize recreational use in Florida, but it didn’t meet the required 60% of support needed to pass.
Georgia, meanwhile, is one of the 10 U.S. states that don’t allow the use of marijuana medically or recreationally. Rainka said that even if the president’s order spurs lawmakers in Congress to pass a law to federally legalize the drug for recreational use, states, like Georgia, can still maintain laws that criminalize marijuana.
“I don’t think this order has much practical effect on everyday citizens,” said Rainka, “reclassifying it from Schedule I to Schedule III really just eases the restrictions on medical research.”
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Even though individual people may not see much change as a result of the order, businesses will have the opportunity to make more money. The Tax Foundation has reported that lowering the drug schedule of marijuana places lower taxes on businesses selling marijuana products.
Dispensary workers like Patrick Cantin, a “budtender” in Baymeadows, believe lower taxes on businesses will make products more affordable for those seeking medical marijuana use.
“I think people are seeing the benefits of this plant more and more, and I think they want our politicians to get with the program, essentially,” Cantin said.
This week, we learned that the Florida Attorney General sent a proposed constitutional amendment to the Florida Supreme Court to legalize the recreational use of marijuana. The required signatures to support the amendment are due by February 1st, before it is able to be placed on the ballot next November.
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