What the rescheduling of marijuana might — and might not — mean for scientific research

After years of inertia, the field of research into the health effects of marijuana may be about to get a boost. Maybe.

The Biden administration’s announcement this month that it intends to begin regulating marijuana more in line with how it regulates drugs like anabolic steroids and ketamine would seem to open up new avenues for researchers who have long been stymied by the federal government’s decades-old declaration that the drug is just as dangerous as heroin and LSD.