Washington, DC: A marijuana prohibition group and a drug testing trade organization have filed a lawsuit against the Justice Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration, challenging the agencies’ order to reschedule state-authorized medical cannabis products from Schedule I to Schedule III of the federal Controlled Substances Act.
The petition for review, filed in the US District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia by SAM Inc. and the National Drug and Alcohol Screening Association, argues that the rescheduling order “violates the rulemaking requirements of the Administrative Procedures Act, … exceeds the authority of the Attorney General under the CSA, and is otherwise arbitrary and capricious and not in accordance with law.”
Plaintiffs must show that they will suffer “irreparable harm” from the rescheduling order, as well as demonstrate that they possess a high likelihood of success “on the merits” of their challenge for it to move forward.
On April 23rd, the AG’s office and the DEA issued an order reclassifying state-licensed medical cannabis while also maintaining the Schedule I status of all other marijuana products. That same day, the agencies issued a separate order initiating new hearings before the DEA with respect to a 2023 proposed rule by the US Department of Health and Human Services that calls for the rescheduling of all botanical cannabis. Those hearings are scheduled to begin on June 29, 2026.
In March, a coalition of marijuana prohibitionist groups filed a separate lawsuit seeking to halt the implementation of a pilot program providing eligible hemp-derived products to Medicare beneficiaries.
Full text of the lawsuit is available from Marijuana Moment. Additional information on rescheduling and its implications for state and federal marijuana policies is available from the NORML Fact Sheet, ‘Cannabis Rescheduling: Myths Versus Reality.’