January 12th, 2024
Press Release – MD Attorney General – press@oag.state.md.us
BALTIMORE, MD (January 12, 2024) – Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown
today joined a coalition of 12 Attorneys General in a letter encouraging the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Agency (DEA) to reschedule cannabis to Schedule III under the federal Controlled
Substances Act in the interest of public health and safety.
In the letter to DEA Administrator Anne Milgram, the coalition explains that rescheduling
cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III is supported by the scientific and medical conclusions
of the Food and Drug Administration. It will allow the state-regulated cannabis industry to
continue to set standards for legal products that protect consumers and work to eliminate the
illegal cannabis market and unregulated intoxicating hemp products. Rescheduling will also
promote research to determine the physical and mental impacts of cannabis use, particularly
among youth, and will allow legitimate cannabis businesses to take tax deductions to expand
their investments and focus on public health and safety in collaboration with law enforcement.
The regulated cannabis marketplace currently brings billions of dollars of revenue into state and
federal governments. It is predicted that by 2027, retail cannabis sales will exceed $53 billion
nationally. According to the Maryland Cannabis Administration, the cannabis industry in
Maryland generated nearly $800 million in medical and adult use sales in 2023 alone. The State
has collected more than $12 million in adult use cannabis tax revenue in the first three months of
taxable adult use sales.
In signing the letter, Attorney General Brown joins the Attorneys General of California,
Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, Pennsylvania,
Oregon, and Rhode Island.
