Legalization of Marijuana - What does it Mean for Insurance?

For many years, marjuana use, both for recreational and medical purposes, has been controversial. It has been and still is federally illegal, while over the years public and medical opinions have changed. As opinions have changed many states have legalized or decriminalized, marijuana for medical or recreational purposes, or both. With the growth of state legalizations the industry of growing and selling marijuana has developed into a billion dollar industry, with legal sales totaling $19 billion in 2020 and expected to reach $41 billion by 2025.

On Friday, the House passed legislation that would finally remove marijuana from the federal list of controlled substances. The bill, H.R. 3617, is known as the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act, or the MORE Act. But what exactly does this bill do? First, it removes marijuana from the list of scheduled substances under the Controlled Substances Act; currently marijuana is a Schedule I drug along with heroin, LSD, and others. Schedule I drugs are considered as having no currently acceptable medical use and having a high potential for abuse. Changing the status of cannabis from Schedule I to a lower schedule would allow scientists to study the effects of marijuana to determine what benefits, if any, it actually has.