Schedule 3 might shrink the soul of cannabis

I love small farms. I love weird cuts, careful cures, and jars with stories. That is why the talk about moving cannabis to Schedule 3 makes my stomach clench. On paper it sounds like progress. In the real world it could tilt the field toward the biggest operators and make it even harder for small growers to breathe.

This is not panic. It is a reality check.

What changes and what does not

Schedule 3 would likely remove the 280E tax penalty so operators can deduct normal business expenses again. That is real relief. What it does not do is legalize state markets or turn dispensaries into pharmacies. The only truly federal lane under Schedule 3 looks like prescription products that live under FDA and DEA rules. That lane rewards scale, lawyers, and long timelines.

So yes, 280E relief helps. But it arrives with a door that opens to pharma-style compliance. That is not where most craft farms live.

How this lands on a small farm

Fixed costs hit different when you are small. Registration fees, security upgrades, inventory controls, documented SOPs, audits, and more testing time do not spread neatly over modest harvests. They show up as a bigger slice of every jar.

You already know the rest. Price compression. Slow pays. Returns. Discounts to keep shelves moving. Staff who do three jobs. Now imagine layering on more federal-style compliance and trying to do it on craft margins. Big operators can amortize. Small operators absorb.

Consumers are part of this story

When small farms bow out, shelves get blander. You see lots of labels owned by a few companies, and fewer growers who talk terps and soil. Prices can creep up because compliance adds cost and consolidation reduces competition. Culture thins. That local, human feeling gets replaced by focus group product.

If a company brings an FDA approved cannabis medicine to market, it will sit in the prescription world. That will not replace your state shop, but it will live next to it. Two systems. Two rules. Two very different vibes.

Washington quick note

For Washington shops and grows, your world stays under state rules unless the state changes them. The 37 percent excise tax at the counter does not vanish because of federal rescheduling. Testing still follows Washington panels. Interstate remains closed until Congress or DOJ says otherwise. Federal tax relief would help, but the core business pressures in this state remain the same.

Is it really progress?

People say hooray for progress. I want progress too. I want safe, tested, fairly priced cannabis that still tastes like a farm, not a factory. But progress that only fits the biggest players is not progress for the whole plant. It is consolidation dressed up as a win.

Small farms are already running on pennies. Add new fixed costs and a second, pharma-style lane, and you do not get more diversity. You get fewer jars from people who actually love this work.

What I want to see instead

Clear federal rules that fit agriculture, not just pharmaceuticals. National safety standards that a small farm can meet without losing the farm. Banking and insurance that reward good operators. Scaled compliance tiers that treat craft like craft, the way some food and beverage programs do for small producers. Keep Cannabis Craft!

<3 Michelle