SPRINGFIELD — After more than half a century, cannabis may soon no longer be listed among the federal government’s most dangerous and addictive drugs.

The Biden administration on Thursday officially proposed reclassifying cannabis from a Schedule I drug to a Schedule III on the federal list of controlled substances. 

As of now, cannabis sits in the same category as heroin, LSD and methamphetamine. If reclassified to Schedule III, it would join Tylenol, testosterone and anabolic steroids, among others.

The impacts of this move would be felt nationwide and throughout Illinois. 

Across the 24 states, two territories and Washington, D.C., where recreational use is legal, reclassifying cannabis to Schedule III would allow certain tax burdens for businesses within those areas to be eliminated.

The move, according to the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, would allow cannabis businesses to take standard business deductions and align federal law with Illinois’ tax code.

Gov. J.B Pritzker told Lee Enterprises earlier this month that he believes reclassifying cannabis is the right move and would help many of Illinois’ cannabis businesses with banking.

“As the federal government changes the classification of marijuana, I think that will help with Congress passing a law that will allow people to do banking in a way that they’ve never done,” Pritzker said. “Right now, you literally have people with safes and cash. You can imagine the security problem of that for these dispensaries and other sellers.”

The move would also make researching the drug easier, and would allow licensed health care providers to prescribe cannabis and licensed pharmacies to dispense those prescriptions legally.

Tiffany Chappell Ingram, executive director of the Cannabis Business Association of Illinois, said the organization applauds the move, as it affirms their advocacy for safe, legal and community-building uses of cannabis.

“In the decades since marijuana was erroneously categorized as a dangerous drug on par with heroin, Black and Brown communities have experienced countless repercussions stemming from the war on drugs,” Chappell Ingram said. 

“While this decision does not legalize marijuana on a federal level, it recognizes the medical benefits of cannabis and eases the tax burden on marijuana companies by allowing them to take federal tax deductions," she said. "This is a huge step in the right direction for the cannabis industry and our society at large, and we hope this continues to pave the path towards federal legalization."

The reclassification would not legalize state-level programs like Illinois’. But many are hopeful that this will potentially lead to the federal government decriminalizing and legalizing it at some point in the future. 

Erin Johnson, IDFPR cannabis regulation oversight officer, said the department is among those supporters based on the success and results seen from Illinois’ cannabis industry.

“This includes expungements of minor cannabis-related offenses; a medical program that many Illinoisans, including veterans, have benefitted from; and a growing, regulated, and safe cannabis industry, which includes some of the first social equity businesses entering the market to large multi-state operators that are proudly headquartered in Chicago,” Johnson said. “Illinois is a leader in the cannabis industry, and we welcome the federal government’s long overdue recognition that cannabis deserves to be regulated, not criminalized.”