VIDEO: DEA reclassification of marijuana ‘complex sociopolitical and medical issue’
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NEW YORK — Administering marijuana to patients who may benefit from its therapeutic properties is a “complex sociopolitical and medical” issue, Brody Montoya, DO, says in this Healio video from the American Psychiatric Association annual meeting.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration announced plans to reclassify marijuana from a Schedule I substance — on par with heroin and LSD — to Schedule III alongside ketamine and anabolic steroids. According to a report from the Associated Press, the move would not legalize marijuana for recreational use at a federal level nationwide.
“This upcoming change will likely be an administrative reflection of what many states have already determined by either legalizing cannabis or the medical use of cannabis,” said Montoya, a resident at Cape Fear Valley Health in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
Montoya additionally said that clinicians should focus on increased marijuana usage and assisting patients to navigate some bureaucratic burdens as well as to advocate for harm reduction.