The new code isn't so much a legislative change as it is clarification on the DEA's position regarding marijuana extracts, including synthetic CBD oil. "Extracts of marihuana will continue to be treated as Schedule I controlled substances," according to the DEA notice, upholding what the Administration's stance has been this whole time: that all marijuana extracts are illegal.

Chuck Rosenberg, DEA Acting Administrator, described the new code as a way for the DEA to "track quantities of this material separately from quantities of marihuana," in order for the US to be compliant with international drug-control treaties.

This is alarming to the many businesses, patients, and other consumers who rely on CBD products extracted from marijuana, which cannot get you high and are legal in many states even when marijuana is not. CBD, with less than .03 percent THC, had been widely regarded as an accepted and harmless extract, but some of those products now have the Schedule I taboo.