The news earlier this week, courtesy of a report by Bloomberg News, that the Health and Human Services is recommending that the Drug Enforcement Agency reclassify marijuana from its status as a Schedule 1 narcotic to a lower-risk category, is sending ripple waves of excitement throughout the legal cannabis community. If this does come to pass, the milestone move could have a massive impact on the market. Could this lead to the passage of the stalemated Congressional bill, the Safe Banking Act, which would not punish banks for doing business with cannabis companies? Or, could it even go a step further and lead to the holy grail for all—federal legalization?

Bri Padilla, executive director of The Chamber of Cannabis, a nonprofit organization for Nevada cannabis professionals, offers her insights while also discussing the implications of rescheduling and counterintuitively, how it could negatively impact the medical cannabis community.