The changes intend to help facilitate and improve the study and trade of cannabis and related products for medical and research purposes

The World Health Organization (WHO) is calling on the United Nations (UN) to reschedule cannabis under the existing international drug control framework. The changes are purportedly intended to help facilitate and improve the study and trade of cannabis and related products for medical and research purposes.

The UN Conventions of 1961 and 1971 both classify substances into four schedules, which subsequently determines the controls and procedures for international trade. Each schedule groups substances are based on an assessment of their potential risk to public health and therapeutic value (if any). The WHO Expert Committee on Drug Dependence (ECDD), which is comprised of a group of independent experts in related fields, examines the existing evidence for those substances and proceeds to make recommendations on how a substance should be classified. A vote is then held by the UN’s Commission on Narcotic Drugs, who will make the final decision as to whether the recommendation should be accepted.

Per the 1961 Convention, substances are classified as Schedule I or II in accordance with the production of ill effects and the likelihood of abuse. If a drug is available as part of medical preparation, it may be listed as Schedule III, and Schedule IV is reserved for drugs that can cause high levels of harm and possess few, if any, therapeutic properties.

The 1971 Convention takes a slightly different approach, basing decisions on “broadly inverse scales of ‘risk to public health’ and ‘therapeutic usefulness.’”

THC, the intoxicating compound in cannabis, is presently classified as a Schedule I substance under the 1971 rules (limited to no therapeutic value, very serious risk to public health). “Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol,” however, is listed in Schedule II (little to moderate therapeutic value, and substantial public health risk).

This past January, the Director General of the WHO sent a letter to the Secretary-General of the UN with recommendations that include re-classifying cannabis and cannabis-associated products within the existing framework.

The UN has historically taken a dim view of cannabis, with a UN Agency referring to Canada’s medical cannabis programs as “poorly regulated” earlier this year and slammed their allegedly “very broad definitions of ‘medical use.’”

“Those programs are inconsistent with the international drug control treaties in failing to control cannabis production and supply,” says a report from the International Narcotics Control Board. “They fail to ensure that good-quality medicines are provided under medical supervision and they enable cannabis and its derivatives to be diverted to non-medical use.”