You’ve probably heard the term Schedule 1 drugs when you’ve heard about weed. You may not realize it, but schedule 1 drugs are considered something that’s high risk, with no medical or therapeutic value, so you can’t prescribe and process it.  However, other countries may have a differing opinion on this, so it may be a schedule 1 drug in one place, but then it’s not in another location. 

In the united states, the DEA considers LSD, heroin, ecstasy, peyote, and meth as schedule 1 drugs.  However, cannabis is also classified as such, and this is due to the controlled substances act. 

How this is classified. 

So you’ve got three locations.  The DEA, or the drug enforcement administration, the FDA or food and drug administration, and then, the HHS, which is the US department of health and human services. These three entities can petition anything that should be reviewed to possibly change the drug state, and this can then get through the DEA, then the HHS, and finally the FDA in order to look at the evidence surrounding the schedule of a certain drug. 

• You have certain factors that do pertain to how these get scheduled and they include the following: 
• the science behind the effects of the drug 
• The evidence surrounding the medical use of a drug 
• The potential for it to be abused 
• The safety profile of a drug 

The biggest difference between schedule 1 and schedule 2, is literally whether or not the government believes it has any value medically, not whether or not it’s harmful to you. So of course, it can definitely be harmful, but it sits in schedule 2 because it is helpful. 

However, with new mounting evidence about some schedule 1 drugs, it’s been found that cannabis is one that definitely can be considered. CBD at the moment is something that’s not a schedule 11 drug, however, Epidolex, which is a cannabis extract of CBD, has been approved by the FDA and is considered a schedule 5 drug.  THC that’s synthetic, also known as Marinol or dronabinol, is considered schedule 3. As you can see from this, there’s tons of inconsistencies on how these drugs get scheduled. 

Why this matters 

This is something that definitely impacts the ability to get this, and if you get put in jail for consumption of it. But there’s more than that to it. The research that you can do on a drug is impacted by where it’s scheduled, since it’s so restrictive to get and processed in many cases. This is something that can be a major problem for getting something that is a schedule 1 drug to be put in another area. 

It also is a big thing because it does affect drug perception, since people do think that those which are schedule 1 drugs are bad, and other ones are quite good. Plus, while the process to get certain schedule 1 drugs onto different lists has gotten better, the problem with the current research in this, isn’t necessarily the drug itself, but the federal funding that it needs.  It’s a nightmare to get any for it, which is why it is oftentimes very slow, and can freeze up, since you’re not getting funding to help with this. 

It also finally affects how people get sentenced. If you have a schedule 2 drug for example, you’re less likely to get put in jail, and it’s why many innocent people get put in jail for cannabis consumption. Obviously, the system needs to change, and we are seeing slowly but surely, more changes as time goes on.