Cannabis Reclassified: What It Means for Missouri’s Growing Industry
What do you think?
President Trump’s decision to move cannabis from a Schedule One drug—where it was treated like heroin—to Schedule Three is a major shift. Cannabis advocates are calling it a big step forward. Jack Cardetti with the Missouri Cannabis Trade Association says this change was long overdue.
“For 50 years now, the federal government has classified cannabis as a Schedule 1 narcotic, the most severe type of narcotic out there. I mean, we really support federal rescheduling. First and foremost, is that finally, the federal government recognizes cannabis as medicine, a shift that will open the door for universities to expand medical research.
Cardetti believes it will help legal cannabis businesses in Missouri.
“It treats them for tax purposes like any other business that's operating in this country, which means it's allowed to deduct the wholesale cost of their products, and they essentially pay taxes on their net revenue, not the gross revenue.
“This is also going to allow potentially more banks to come into that fold and provide sort of basic services. But it's not going to be the wholesale change in federal policy that a safe banking federal legislation would bring about.”
Cardetti estimates cannabis sales in Missouri generated more than 250 million dollars in tax revenue for state and local governments this year alone. He says this reclassification means the federal government now recognizes cannabis as medicine.
