DALLAS — Jerry Joyner has seen a lot of changes in the cannabis industry since he got involved with the plant decades ago.
Joyner, a longtime North Texas resident, remembers the days when he had to enjoy a joint in secret. The politics around cannabis were negative and the consequences of getting caught were never good; something Joyner admits he learned firsthand.
“In 1992, I got arrested for having two joints in Collin County,” said Joyner.
While he’s not walking down the streets of Dallas smoking, he no longer hides his passion for the plant. Through his years of traveling and working in graphics, art and advertising, he says he saw the positive impact cannabis had on the health and lives of many people around him. Now, from inside of his Deep Ellum studio, he’s become an advocate for cannabis and the cannabis industry through his on-demand TV network, Weed and Whiskey TV.
“We’re a TV network,” Joyner said with a laugh as he showed off some of the entertainment and informative offerings he and his partners have produced.
Joyner, now known by many as J-Man, recently went into a partnership on a line of low-cost cannabis gummies produced and sold in Texas; something he never thought would be possible after his arrest.
Cannabis, once portrayed darkly in media like the 1936 film "Refer Madness," has come into the mainstream and into a much more favorable light in recent years. Currently, cannabis is considered fully illegal in only three states, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, with most offering some medicinal marijuana access, and 24 states allow legal usage and sales for adults. Texas currently only allows low-level THC medical marijuana, but like most of the country, has also legalized hemp production.
The 2018 U.S. Farm Bill made it legal to grow hemp in the country as long as it contains no more than 0.3% delta 9 THC, the psychoactive compound in cannabis, on a dry weight basis. This opened up sales of CBD products across the country, and a boom in THC products. Now, specialty shops and some convenience stores openly sell products like delta 8 THC, delta 10 THC, and even forms of delta 9, like the popular THCA. The products have similar, if not the same, effects as the adult use cannabis sold legally in almost half the country—although without the regulatory oversight put in place in those legal cannabis states.
Federal law has remained the roadblock for the cannabis industry in many forms, but big change may appear on the horizon.
Analysts and experts in the cannabis industry believe the Biden administration, after pardoning Americans with federal cannabis charges in late 2023, is poised to reschedule the substance to a Schedule III drug on the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s drug schedule. Cannabis is currently a Schedule I drug, which is defined as drugs with no acceptable use and high probability for abuse, and includes substances like heroin and ecstasy. Schedule III would classify cannabis as having a moderate to low-level potential for dependence and put it in line with medical products like Tylenol with codeine, ketamine and anabolic steroids.
Joyner, who’s had a lot of discussion about the potential change lately, says that the reschedule could be a big moment for the cannabis business. Industry experts theorize the move away from Schedule I could lower the tax burden on legal cannabis businesses and open the doors to better banking options.
The move wouldn’t undo any current federal or state-based cannabis laws, but law enforcement experts say the change will certainly have some effects.
“It’s certainly significant,” said Dr. Alex Del Carmen, Dean of Criminology at Tarleton State University.
Del Carmen said the change in scheduling would serve as an acknowledgment on behalf of the government that cannabis isn’t a huge safety threat. That’s a message, he says, law enforcement has already been getting as a growing number of district attorneys across the country have refused to prosecute many low-level cannabis related crimes.
“Now you’re simply going to have the legal backing for DAs to tell law enforcement, ‘Look, worry about this other type of crime, more serious crime,’” said Dr. Del Carmen.
However, a schedule change wouldn’t mean legal weed in the U.S. Federal and state cannabis laws would still be in place and could still be enforced if leaders in the justice system choose to pursue. Inconsistency in cannabis enforcement would likely remain a present issue.
Industry experts say it wouldn’t do anything to address the inconsistencies between state and federal cannabis laws, inconsistent testing policies for cannabis among private employers, or, Joyner’s big concern, the current lack of product safety for cannabis users.
“All it’s gonna do is help some of the big companies make more profit and be more profitable, but it’s not going to solve that problem we have with the illicit market,” said Joyner.
Joyner said that until cannabis is federally legalized, black-market sales will continue to put risky products into people’s hands. The unregulated nature of the market opened by the 2018 Farm Bill puts the risk of bad products onto legal store shelves.
“It could be done with the stroke of a pen, whether it’s this administration or the next one,” said Joyner.
So, how likely is federal legalization? The topic remains a point of contention at the federal level and in most states. Several lobbying groups continue to speak out against legalizing and further normalization of cannabis. President Joe Biden has remained reluctant to fully legalize it, despite numerous rounds of federal pardons for cannabis crimes. Most of the leading GOP candidates currently in the 2024 presidential race have stated they are against legalization. Vivek Ramaswamy is the only one to speak in favor of legalization.
However, public favorability for legalization has never been higher. The latest Gallup Poll on the matter, released Nov. 8, 2023, shows a record-setting 70% of adult Americans surveyed were in favor of legalizing cannabis—with self-identified liberals approving at 91%, conservatives at 52%, and 64% of those aged 55+ being in favor. That’s a major upswing from 1969 when Gallup first asked about legalization and only 12% of adults said they were in favor.
While public perception continues to change and states continue to take-on the legalization question, could a cannabis reschedule, if it does indeed come, be the catalyst for federal change? Only time will tell.
Joyner said he’s excited to see where the cards lie 12 months from now.