Quincy, Illinois (KHQA) — It’s been nearly a month since President Trump signed an executive order directing the U.S. Attorney General to fast-track the rescheduling of cannabis products, but there hasn’t been much change yet.
“It’s federal government and there’s a lot of moving parts, so things can take a while, but, as of now, I know that there’s parties that are talking about it, but, nothing’s been blocked as of yet, so as long as we’re not getting blocked and things are moving forward, it should be positive,” said Quincy Bloom Dispensary Procurement Manager Shane Hibbard.
Hibbard said he’s supportive of classification change.
“Just kind of just getting away from the stigma that cannabis has had in the past. And then just helping the businesses operate better will allow us to serve our patients better as well,” said Hibbard.
It would switch cannabis from a Schedule l drug with no accepted medical use and high potential for abuse, to a Schedule lll drug and classified as having a moderate to low potential for abuse.
“It allows medical research to be done, with the rescheduling that wasn’t allowed prior. Another benefit to that is the businesses here can actually write off expenses when they’re filing their taxes, which was not allowed prior. So it should help benefit the businesses, on the back end as well,” said Hibbard.
Hibbard said the new classification will allow for better federal research into medical use for the drug.
“It should help people when there’s actual scientific studies done, it’ll help kind of ease some people’s fears about it, that weren’t sure about it,” said Hibbard. “The more information we have, the more that we can pass down to them. And that’s what we’re here for, is just to serve the medical patients of the community. So, the more we can serve them, the happier we’ll be.”
