Washington, DC: The DEA judge tasked with issuing a recommendation on whether to reschedule marijuana has granted a temporary stay in the ongoing legal proceedings.
The request for a stay came from three parties publicly opposed to rescheduling: DUID Victim Voices, Kenneth Finn, M.D., and the National Drug and Alcohol Association (NDASA). All three parties testified this past July at a federal hearing on the matter. NORML and other marijuana advocacy organizations were denied participation in the hearing.
On Tuesday, Administrative Law Judge Derek C. Julius issued an order staying the case and ordering the federal government to respond to the parties’ motion. Specifically, the parties’ motion requests that the court allow into the record the findings of a September GAO (Government Accountability Office) report questioning the DEA’s and the FDA’s “roles and responsibilities related to scheduling [controlled] substances.”
Julius’ order demands the government file its response no later than October 13, 2026.
In 2023, the Biden Administration recommended reclassifying botanical cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III of the federal Controlled Substances Act. Designated hearings on the matter, initially scheduled for January 2025, never took place.
In April, the Justice Department and the DEA directed that state-authorized medical cannabis products be reclassified under federal law and ordered new hearings to consider “factual evidence and expert opinion” regarding the reclassification of all marijuana products, not just those authorized for medical use.
Additional information on cannabis rescheduling is available from NORML Fact Sheet, ‘Cannabis Rescheduling: Myths Versus Reality.’