An amendment to Bill H.R 5893 has been filed that aims to prevent the Federal rescheduling of cannabis.

Earlier this year the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) urged the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to reclassify cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act.

If rescheduled, cannabis would still be federally prohibited. However, it would allow for more scientific research as it would remove strict DEA processes for studies.

Bill H.R. 5893 – the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2024 – was introduced in October and aims to set spending limits for the fiscal year for agencies or programmes.

Currently in the first stage of the legislative process, the appropriations bill is set to be considered by the Committee next before being sent on House or Senate.

Representative and former Chair of the House Rules Committee, Pete Sessions – who has to date blocked all cannabis bills – filed the amendment that would prohibit any funds from being used to “to deschedule, reschedule, or reclassify marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act.”

HHS recently carried out a scientific review in order to provide a recommendation on its rescheduling which was then passed over to the DEA to decide whether cannabis should be rescheduled.

If passed, the amendment could thwart the ongoing review of the scheduling of cannabis by the DEA.