New Federal Cannabis Laws Mean Patients Have Rights!
On April 28, 2026, federal cannabis policy changed when the Department of Justice issued AG Order No. 6754-2026, placing FDA-approved cannabis products and cannabis products regulated by qualifying state medical cannabis licenses into Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act.
Federal cannabis laws affect far more than whether patients can access cannabis. For decades, medical cannabis patients were excluded from protections that other people with serious health conditions expect, including protections related to employment, housing, healthcare, and federal services.
Federal recognition means a patient’s participation in a state-authorized medical cannabis program can no longer be treated as criminal conduct, substance misuse, or an automatic reason to deny essential services. In fact, medical cannabis patients can now demand their rights and protections under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Fair Housing Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and other laws and programs that affect housing, healthcare, employment, veterans’ services, public benefits, and federal systems.
But history tells us, changes in laws do not mean policies automatically change.
ASA is working to make sure medical cannabis patients are protected in housing, healthcare, employment, veterans’ services, disability rights, public benefits, family settings, education, federal systems, and private services. No patient should be punished for using cannabis as medicine.
ASA needs to hear from patients, caregivers, veterans, workers, tenants, parents, service members, and others who have experienced discrimination because of medical cannabis. Your report can help ASA identify patterns, educate policymakers, support legal and administrative advocacy, and push agencies, institutions, and private actors to update harmful policies.
What Types of Discrimination Should Be Reported?
Housing
Report if you were denied housing, threatened with eviction, evicted, denied reasonable accommodation, denied federally assisted housing, denied lease renewal, or penalized by a landlord or housing provider because of medical cannabis.
No patient should have to choose between their medicine and their home.
Healthcare
Report if you were denied medical care, denied pain management, dismissed from a pain clinic, required to stop medical cannabis to receive care, denied surgery, denied transplant evaluation, denied specialist care, or had cannabis treated as substance misuse instead of medicine.
Patients should not be denied healthcare because they participate in a state-authorized medical cannabis program.
Hospitals, Hospice, Nursing Homes, Assisted Living, or Long-Term Care
Report if you were forced to stop medical cannabis, denied access to medical cannabis, denied caregiver administration, told a facility would not document cannabis as medicine, or told that federal funding rules prohibit medical cannabis.
Patients in hospitals, hospices, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and long-term care settings deserve policies grounded in patient safety, continuity of care, clinical judgment, and medical need.
Family, Education, Benefits, or Public Services
Report if medical cannabis affected child custody, triggered a child welfare investigation, resulted in denial of a school accommodation, or caused denial of disability benefits, public benefits, transportation, or public services.
Medical cannabis patient status should not be used to threaten family stability, educational access, disability rights, or essential public services.
Employment
Report if you were denied a job, fired, suspended, disciplined, denied a promotion, denied return to work, failed a drug test despite medical cannabis patient status, or denied workplace accommodation.
Medical use is not the same as impairment. A cannabis-positive test alone does not prove unsafe conduct, poor performance, misconduct, or lack of fitness for duty.
Federal Employment or Federal Contractor Issues
Report if you were denied federal employment, denied a federal contractor position, disciplined under federal drug-free workplace rules, denied a clearance, denied a credential, or denied a federal workplace accommodation because of medical cannabis.
Federal workplace policies must distinguish state-authorized medical use from impairment and must be updated to reflect the new federal recognition of medical cannabis.
Veterans’ Services
Report if a VA clinician refused to provide a recommendation, forms, referral, or registration help; if medical cannabis affected your VA care; or if you were denied pain care, mental health care, housing, benefits, or services.
Veterans should be able to discuss medical cannabis honestly with VA providers and receive coordinated care based on their full medical history, prescriptions, disability status, and treatment needs.
Military or Service Member Issues
Report if you were disciplined or threatened with discipline, ordered to stop medical cannabis or cannabinoid use, penalized for CBD or hemp-derived cannabinoid use, or if medical cannabis affected duty status, promotion, separation, transition planning, disability evaluation, or benefits.
The military has unique readiness and safety needs, but service members should not be punished simply for seeking medical guidance or disclosing therapeutic cannabis use in appropriate medical contexts.
Private Businesses, Public Accommodations, or Services
Report if you were denied service, denied entry, denied participation, denied reasonable accommodation, or penalized by a private business, event, program, facility, or service because of medical cannabis patient status.
Medical cannabis patients should not be excluded from everyday life because they use medicine under a state-authorized program.
Why Reporting Matters
Discrimination is often treated as an isolated problem when patients face it alone. But when patients report what happened, ASA can identify patterns and push for broader change.
Patient reports contribute to ASA's campaign to end discrimination by helping
- Document the real-world impact of outdated policies;
- Identify agencies, institutions, and sectors where discrimination is continuing;
- Educate policymakers and regulators;
- Support legal, administrative, and legislative advocacy;
- Push federal and state agencies to issue updated guidance; and
- Build public understanding that medical cannabis patients deserve fair treatment.
Your experiences can help protect other patients!
What Patients & Caregivers Can Do Now1. Know your status. Keep documentation of your state medical cannabis registration, healthcare provider certification, caregiver authorization, and product information where appropriate. 2. Ask for written explanations. If you are denied housing, care, employment, benefits, services, or accommodation, ask for the policy and decision in writing. 3. Use medical language. Describe yourself as a medical cannabis patient participating in a state-authorized program. Do not let others frame your medicine as non-medical use. 4. Request reasonable accommodation. Ask for reasonable accommodation. 5. Document everything. Save emails, letters, denial notices, drug testing communications, housing notices, medical records, policy documents, and names of decision-makers. 6. Report discrimination to ASA. Your experience can help change policy for thousands of other patients. |
Use ASA resources to assert your rights!
The Law Has Changed. Now, Enforcement Must Change Too.
No patient should be punished for using cannabis as medicine. Join ASA in taking action to make sure that happens!
Report discrimination here.
Changes in cannabis laws at the state and federal levels require vigilance from advocates to ensure implementation in the public and private sectors respects patients' rights and accommodates them accordingly. It is important to stay active, engaged, and informed. Sign up to get ASA updates!
Share this page
