HHS is recommending that the Drug Enforcement Agency significantly loosen federal restrictions on marijuana but continues to recommend that it still be on the Controlled Substances Act list. HHS wants the drug moved from Schedule I to Schedule III under the CSA, potentially the biggest change in federal drug policy in decades.
The HHS letter is part of the official review process initiated by President Joe Biden last October: The FDA conducts the review, which is then sent to the National Institute on Drug Abuse and HHS, after which HHS transmits a letter to the DEA, who makes the final call.