DEA Administrator Announces Intent to Hold Hearings on Marijuana’s Scheduling

The Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration will commence administrative law hearings on the matter of marijuana’s scheduling under the federal Controlled Substances Act. The hearing notice is scheduled to appear in the Federal Register on Thursday, August 29th. The unpublished notice first became available online late yesterday.

The hearing is scheduled to commence on Monday, December 2, 2024. The stated purpose of the hearing is so the DEA can “’receiv[e] factual evidence and expert opinion regarding’ whether marijuana should be transferred [from Schedule I] to Schedule III of the list of controlled substances.”

It remains unknown at this time who the Administrator will select to participate in the hearing process. The hearing notice instructs “interested” and “aggrieved parties” who wish to participate to file a written notice of intention to participate. Notices will be reviewed by the Agency and the Administrator will “make a determination of participants.”

It also remains unknown how long the hearing process may take. Hearings held in the 1980s on the matter of rescheduling cannabis took place over several years.

NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano said that the agency’s intention to hold hearings is not surprising. “Hearings are an integral part of the rescheduling process. To think that the DEA, which historically has opposed any changes to cannabis’ prohibitive status, would sign off on the most significant proposed change in federal marijuana policy in over fifty years absent such hearings was always wishful thinking. That said, the scientific evidence in favor of removing cannabis from Schedule I remains overwhelming. Cannabis clearly has legitimate therapeutic value and it possesses a superior safety profile compared to other Schedule I or Schedule II controlled substances.”

In its public comments to DEA in July, NORML concurred with views expressed by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that cannabis “has a currently accepted medical use” and that its relatively low abuse potential is inconsistent with the criteria required for substances in either Schedule I or Schedule II.

Those comments concluded: “The determination by HHS that cannabis use does not possess the same public health burden as does the use of alcohol (unscheduled), tobacco (unscheduled) or other controlled substances currently regulated in lower schedules of the CSA (e.g., benzodiazepines) is consistent with decades of worldwide scientific literature. While HHS ultimately recommends transferring cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III, NORML wishes to emphasize that these findings similarly provide a factual basis for removing cannabis from the CSA entirely. Although the HHS is not recommending descheduling at this time, NORML asserts that this position is the most appropriate one and that descheduling cannabis should be adopted by future administrations.”

The Biden Administration initiated the regulatory process to review cannabis federal scheduling in late 2022. The Department of Health and Human Services recommended marijuana be moved to Schedule III last August and the Justice Department published a proposed rule to change cannabis’ classification in May. However, the DEA Administrator did not sign off on that order.

In recent months, Democratic Party officials have spoken of having “reclassified marijuana,” despite the process remaining ongoing. Historically, the DEA has rejected every prior petition that sought to remove marijuana from Schedule I.