The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is scheduled to hold a hearing later this month to consider the broader federal rescheduling of cannabis. The move follows U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche’s order from April to immediately reclassify state-licensed medical marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III.

Although some observers have said that the direct effects of rescheduling medical cannabis remains limited, representatives in the medical marijuana industry in Florida say the most significant development is how the move opens the door for additional research opportunities for physicians and patients.

“Under Schedule I, there is all of this bureaucracy, and it is very difficult for researchers to be able to use actual products. In fact, they can’t. They can only use whole plant that was homogenized in one of the very few DEA licensed Schedule I marijuana facilities, which were in no way representative of the actual products that Americans are using under state legal programs across the country,” Trulieve CEO Kim Rivers told the Phoenix.

“Now researchers will be able to access those products and begin doing trials using those products so that we can get better information so that patients and physicians can better understand and have dosing guidance.”

Rivers says rescheduling will also assist marijuana companies in product development.

“There is a product on the shelf — it’s a time-release product that we believe could be very effective for specific conditions — but we had no way of doing blood draws to be able to make a statement that this product stays at constant levels over a certain time horizon. And so, it’s very exciting for the future to give us more real data around medical marijuana.”

Boris Jordan is chairman and CEO of Curaleaf. He told the Phoenix that the decision to reschedule medical cannabis “carries meaningful implications for the future of the industry and provides medical patients with the critical access they need.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis barely noted the rescheduling of cannabis after Blanche issued his order. He said he didn’t think the move would ultimately mean much in the Sunshine State.

“Florida has the medical [marijuana program] that was passed by the voters in, I believe, 2016,” he said during a press conference in Kissimmee on April 24. “I mean, you see a lot of these stores around the state. I don’t necessarily think that’s a good thing, but it is what it is and that’s been something that’s been on the books in Florida and that’s something that we’ve abided by for a number of years now.”

DeSantis fought hard to prevent a 2024 constitutional amendment that would have legalized recreational use of adult cannabis. Although nearly 56% of Floridians voted for the proposal, he won the battle, as the measure failed to win the 60% vote required for passage.

Trulieve, the biggest marijuana company in Florida and one of the biggest in the nation, spent more than $100 million trying to get Amendment 3 passed. Rivers has been credited as one of the strongest advocates in getting President Trump to issue his executive order reclassifying marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III.

She says that Trump heard from hundreds of Americans about how it was time to bring federal policy “into reality” of what’s happening in Americans lives.

“We talked a lot about conversations that he had with folks who have successfully integrated medical marijuana into their daily lives, and we talked about how medical cannabis has evolved over the years. And he was very receptive and understood that it’s ridiculous that despite the fact that the vast majority — over 40 states have some form of medical cannabis programs — that the federal government was still classifying it alongside with heroin, and so he took a very commonsense and practical approach to it.”

Michael Minardi is a Tampa criminal defense attorney who works in the cannabis field. He believes the rescheduling could reshape the employment law arena.

“There should no longer be the defense by employers that it is an illegal substance or that they do not have to recognize a Florida Dr. Certification as a legal prescription,” he said in an email. “The AG order should require employers to treat it just like any prescription drug and consider the employee’s use legal justified use and not signs of drug abuse.

“Otherwise, I think this bill mostly is for the businesses, by providing 280E relief, greater access to funds, legitimizing their market and potentially permitting shipment across state lines,” he added. (He referred to a federal tax law that prohibits businesses from deducting ordinary business expenses if their operations consist of trafficking controlled substances.)

“It’s amazing the non-medical regular user of cannabis is still a criminal and currently still a Schedule I, despite it being the same exact plant,” Minardi said. “It is a plant and they need to do the right thing in June and legalize it and all hemp products for all adults.”

Another tangible effect is a move by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) to change the language of the Firearms Transaction Record, known as ATF Form 4473. The ATF announced in January that it was working to loosen rules that bar marijuana users from lawfully purchasing and pocessing firearms.

“This is a major development for the restoration of rights of marijuana users,” Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried said in January. As Florida Commissioner of Agriculture, she sued the ATF on behalf of Florida’s medical marijuana patients, who she claimed had their Second Amendment rights violated by the existing policy.

“Those impacted by this change include over 1 million Florida veterans, who after proudly serving our country should not be forced to choose between access to life-saving medicine and their right to self defense,” she said. “This change is a victory for patient access and Second Amendment rights.”

The DEA is scheduled to hold an administrative hearing in Virginia beginning June 29 regarding the proposed rescheduling of marijuana. The next phase “is critical,” Joni James with the Florida Cannabis Action Network said in a written statement.

“Patients have led the way, and now the broader conversation about cannabis policy is moving forward,” she said.

Not everyone is on board with the reclassification. A petition filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Court on May 22 by the attorneys general of Indiana, Louisiana, and Nebraska claims that Blanche’s final order violates federal administrative law as well as international drug-control treaties.