Inevitably, the federal prohibition of cannabis will end, likely by Congress removing cannabis entirely from the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA).1  When that day comes, regulation of cannabis will be permitted as both a potential medicine and as a federally-legal, age-restricted product, like alcohol or tobacco.

Federally de-scheduling cannabis will better align federal cannabis policy with state-level reforms and public opinion, behind which it has lagged for many years. However, it will also disrupt and force the transformation of existing intrastate cannabis markets. How the nation will shift from dozens of individual state cannabis markets to one national market, and the implications of that shift, is unknown but likely to be dramatic. It is also safe to assume that many advocates for federal de-scheduling are not aware of the consequences such a policy change portends for existing and entrenched state cannabis policies.

Because the possession and sale of cannabis is illegal under federal law, states that have chosen to legalize cannabis have had to do so by developing markets that are entirely intrastate. They can, and have, removed their own state law penalties, but the threat of federal law enforcement is both a theoretical and practical reality. In order to reduce the risk of federal enforcement interfering with legalized state regimes, states have followed federal Department of Justice (DOJ) guidelines, which promise to deprioritize enforcement if states restrict businesses from importing or exporting cannabis across state lines.2 In some states, particularly states that produce much greater quantities of cannabis than their residents will consume, this federal guidance creates significant economic and regulatory problems.