A father raising a terminally ill child told the House Small Business Committee that rescheduling marijuana under federal law could open pathways for rare disease research while countering threats from Chinese Communist Party (CCP) operatives.
Sean Murphy, founder of the nonprofit Kompassion—which concentrates on palliative care and rare diseases in children—testified at a committee hearing titled "Defending Main Street: Combating CCP Threats to America's Small Businesses." His advocacy draws on raising a child with a severe health condition and volunteering in veterans hospices.
Murphy urged moving marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) to "unlock research and healing, especially for rare diseases." Rescheduling would not federally legalize cannabis, but it would lift certain Schedule I research restrictions and allow state-licensed marijuana businesses to claim federal tax deductions currently barred under IRS code 280E. His written testimony called the incremental change "a monumental movement in research and development of cures."
President Donald Trump signed an executive order in December directing the attorney general to expedite reclassification, continuing a process begun under the Biden administration.
Murphy also recommended directing a portion of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health's (ARPA-H) $1.5 billion fiscal year 2026 budget "explicitly" toward cannabinoid research. His testimony states: "All mammals possess an endocannabinoid system (ESC) that plays a central role in inflammation reduction and homeostasis; targeted research in this area would unlock breakthrough whole-health approaches that treat the body's nervous and endocannabinoid system, while supporting veteran and family care, all while keeping IP and data 100 percent secure from foreign exploitation."
Cannabis and CCP concerns have intersected in Congress before. A GOP-led House committee previously examined challenges linked to Chinese criminal organizations running large-scale illicit marijuana grows. The prohibitionist group Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) ran a television ad in July arguing that Trump's rescheduling proposal would empower Chinese cartels.
In 2023, a major marijuana lobbying firm apologized after sending Senate committee leadership a letter on a bipartisan cannabis banking bill that contained "inappropriate" references to Chinese-backed investments in what the firm described as a "misguided attempt" to push for amendments expanding the legislation.
