WASHINGTON — Cannabis Businesses & Professionals United for National Medical Cannabis launched September 16. The new Americans for Safe Access (ASA)Action Group was formed to unite cannabis businesses, professionals, and investors behind a bold national vision: the creation of a comprehensive medical cannabis framework in the United States.
The launch comes at a pivotal moment. On September 10, the House Appropriations Committee advanced the FY2026 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS)budget bill, which included provisions that would allow the DEA to once again interfere with state cannabis programs and block the President from making any determination on cannabis scheduling. As these threats grow, patients remain the only ones consistently fighting back.
Why a national program matters
For more than a decade, cannabis reform in Washington has been stagnant. Despite new state programs, growing public support, and billions invested, federal progress on banking, tax fairness, and interstate commerce remains out of reach. Patients continue to face stigma, discrimination, and inconsistent access to medicine.
Medical cannabis programs were established as compassionate stopgaps during the War on Drugs, but after 25 years, many are at risk of collapse due to inadequate federal support and state frameworks that prioritize adult use. Patients remain vulnerable to eviction from federally funded housing, loss of employment due to drug testing, custody challenges for parents, exclusion from protections under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and barriers for veterans within the VA healthcare system.
Meanwhile, federal prohibition perpetuates inconsistent product quality, fragmented labeling standards, and safety risks from unregulated markets. Without a national framework, patients and businesses alike operate within a patchwork system that hinders research, innovation, commerce, and healthcare integration.
A national medical cannabis program that provides clarity for researchers, stability for businesses, tools for healthcare professionals, and dignity for patients is imperative.
Such a program would be transformative:
- For patients: safe, consistent, affordable access to medicine and life-changing legal protections
- For the healthcare sector: Education and resources for clinicians, integration and innovation for overburdened systems, and added stability to profitability.
- For society: a shift from prohibition to science, from stigma to dignity, and from fragmentation to a unified approach.
“There is such a wealth of knowledge about medical cannabis that is not being utilized,” said Karen Jaynes, MS, eRYT, medical cannabis integration consultant. “If we apply it, we can build a strong medical framework. Both medical and adult-use can thrive, but they need separate, intentional pathways in a post-prohibition world. If we want sustainable progress, we cannot afford to treat medical cannabis as an afterthought.”
Building a patient-centered future
Cannabis is a botanical medicine, and existing systems for drug approval were never designed for complex plant-based therapies. Rescheduling cannabis may be a step forward, but it also highlights the need for a new regulatory path that integrates cannabis into healthcare without forcing it into frameworks built for single-compound pharmaceuticals.
ASA has long advocated for a patient-centric national approach, including removing criminal penalties, creating regulatory pathways for medical access, establishing safety standards and clinical guidelines, ensuring cannabis is recognized as a legitimate medicine within the healthcare system, and establishing a new Schedule VI classification and an Office of Medical Cannabis & Cannabinoid Control (OMC) within HHS to oversee cannabis and cannabinoid medicines.
“Picture what it will look like when every patient in America — no matter their state, income, or condition — has safe access to cannabis medicine,” said Holly Lang, PharmD, a pharmacist working in Pennsylvania’s medical cannabis program. “That visual is stunning for patients. That’s progress for society.”
The path forward
ASA has played a central role in shaping the cannabis landscape, from drafting state medical frameworks and developing product safety protocols to leading international advocacy and securing DOJ budget protections that shield patients and providers. But ASA is clear: lasting change will only come through a comprehensive national program.
“We survived through the time of federal raids and prosecutions. No one was more relieved than I when ASA first passed the DOJ budget protections,” said Aundre Speciale, a 20-year California dispensary operator and founding member of ASA. “But ‘cease-fires’ are supposed to be temporary. A decade has gone by with no changes to federal cannabis policy, and now we are all at risk.”
A national medical cannabis program would stabilize demand, provide tools for medical professionals, guarantee dignity for patients, and allow U.S. businesses to compete globally in a field where other countries are moving forward rapidly. The new Action Group will help deliver that future by mobilizing business leaders and professionals to advocate along with patients for Congress to act.
“Patients deserve medicines that are studied, standardized, and trusted — and businesses deserve the clarity to invest in that work,” saidOtha Smith III, CEO of Tetragram. ”The Businesses & Professionals United for National Medical Cannabis Action Group is the bridge we need to align science, policy, and patient care. A national program will finally unlock the research potential that has been stalled for decades.”
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