By Dalton Rosario
Based upon recommendations from the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Expert Committee on Drug Dependence, a series of cannabis-related rescheduling initiatives will be set into motion concluding beneficial collaborative research with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB). Most impacted by these status changes will be the marijuana plant itself, cannabis-derived resin, and THC which will be removed from its current Schedule IV status - the most dangerous and controlled classification - and will be added to the Schedule I status of the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs (1961). Unlike in the U.S., Schedule I internationally is the least restricted of listings. As well, CBD containing 0.2% of THC or less will no longer fall under international control; and extracts are to be removed from Schedule I status.
In effect the WHO is officially shifting its stance on nearly 50 years of denouncing cannabis’ medical health benefits. This is symbolic of a greater global push for embracing cannabis’ holistic properties and creating meaningful legislative frameworks for ending prohibition. Even though moving forward with rescheduling procedures is its own cause for celebration, current WHO classifications will still place countries in a compromising position when lawmakers legalize the plant recreationally, because doing so places their governments in contempt of international treaties through violations of global conventions. The WHO's recommendations for rescheduling cannabis and its derivatives will be officially released at the United Nation’s Commission on Narcotic Drugs in March, when 53 of the world’s governing bodies will meet to vote on accepting or declining the international policy proposal.
