Washington, DC: The DEA judge tasked with issuing a recommendation on whether to reschedule marijuana has denied a request to reopen the hearing so that parties can provide testimony on a recently published Government Accountability Office report questioning the DEA’s and the FDA’s “roles and responsibilities related to scheduling [controlled] substances.”
In his order, Administrative Law Judge Derek C. Julius found no justification to reopen the hearing, which “already includes over 2,500 pages of witness testimony and multiple thousands of pages of documentary evidence.” Rather, he declared that he will “admit the GAO report into record” and permit parties to submit briefs on the issue.
“Accordingly, I will permit limited briefing,” the judge ordered. “The briefs should be narrowly tailored to the issues of (1) the weight, if any, the tribunal should give to the GAO Report; and (2) if it should be afforded weight, to what extent the GAO Report has an effect on the current rescheduling matter (i.e., are the ‘gaps’ in written rescheduling policies identified by the GAO Report substantial enough to jeopardize the larger process and specifically impact the instant rescheduling proposal before the tribunal).”
Parties that wish to file additional briefs have until October 29th to do so. Replies to the briefs are due by November 5th.
“The Motion to Admit the GAO Report is GRANTED. This matter remains STAYED until the time for briefing is closed; the stay will expire by its own terms at the conclusion of this briefing schedule,” Judge Julius ordered.
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. Those hearings took place this summer and were limited to include only participants who oppose rescheduling.
Additional information on cannabis rescheduling is available from NORML Fact Sheet, ‘Cannabis Rescheduling: Myths Versus Reality.’