DEA Marijuana Rescheduling Hearing Delayed Until 2025, Agency Judge Rules

The Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) hearing on the Biden administration’s marijuana rescheduling proposal is being delayed until 2025, Marijuana Moment has learned.

After DEA Administrator Anne Millgram signed off on over two dozen witnesses to participate in the hearing on Monday, Chief Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) John Mulrooney issued a preliminary order on Thursday signaling that the information provided on those set to testify was insufficient and requesting additional details and potential availability for a formal hearing in January or February 2025.

When the Justice Department proposed moving cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III in March following a scientific review, advocates and stakeholders had hoped the rule would be finalized this year. And DEA did schedule the hearing for December 2—after the presidential election but before the January inauguration that will see an administrative changeup.

Now the latest order from Mulrooney clarifies that won’t be the case.

The reason being is that DEA’s list of hearing participants who were selected and sent to the ALJ’s office provided “no indication in the four corners of the document as to whether the ‘participants’ support or oppose the [notice of proposed rulemaking] or how the ‘participants’ satisfy the ‘interested person’ definition set forth in the regulations,” the judge’s order says.

“Indeed, the [Participant Letter] contains only a list of persons and organizations accompanied by one or more email addresses, without the benefit of notices of appearance, addresses, or even phone numbers,” it says.

The order from the DEA ALJ says that selected participants must provide such details by November 12. DEA is mandated to provide “its counsel(s) of record who will be appearing in these proceedings, as well as any known conflicts of interest that may require disclosure” on the same date.

Here’s the list of witnesses that DEA selected: 

• Counsel for the Government
• Village Farms International
• National Cannabis Industry Association
• American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine
• Cannabis Bioscience International Holdings
  Hemp for Victory
• State of Connecticut
• Massachusetts Cannabis Advisory Board
• Veterans Initiative 22
• The Doc App. Dba, My Florida Green
• The Commonwealth Project
• Saint Michael’s College
• National Drug and Alcohol Screening Association
• Smart Approaches to Marijuana
• International Academy on the Science and Impact of Cannabis
• Cannabis Industry Victims Educating Litigators
• National Transportation Safety Board
• Attorney General Mike Hilgers for the State of Nebraska
• International Association of Chiefs of Police
• Drug Enforcement Association of Federal Narcotics Agents
• American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
• Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America
• Tennessee Bureau of Investigation
• National Sheriff’s Association

An initial hearing will still take place on December 2, but the judge said no testimony or evidence will be taken at the tame.

“Designated Participants who will participate will come prepared with January-February 2025 availability dates regarding their counsel and any witness such [designated participants] will seek to present at the hearing on the merits,” he said. “Dates for the hearing on the merits and other deadlines will be fixed in a prehearing ruling, which will be issued after the preliminary hearing where the parties have been afforded the opportunity to supply logistical and availability input.”

This comes about seven months after the Justice Department formally proposed moving cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) following a scientific review. After a public comment period, which saw tens of thousands of people weigh in on the issue, a hearing was set for December 2 to gather additional expert input.

Paul Armentano, deputy director for NORML, said that “it’s always been a possibility that this process could drag out longer than many either anticipated or would like.”

“The administrative process is cumbersome and, as we have seen historically, administrative challenges to marijuana’s Schedule I status take years to resolve,” he told Marijuana Moment. “That said, unlike in the past, it is our political opponents who are presented with the burden of arguing against the findings of both HHS and the FDA—which have determined that cannabis does not meet the scientific criteria of either a Schedule I or Schedule II controlled substance.”

“And it is unlikely that they will be able to do so. As previously determined by HHS, ‘The risks to the public health posed by marijuana are low compared to other drugs of abuse, such as heroin (Schedule I), cocaine (Schedule II), benzodiazepines (Schedule IV) and alcohol (unscheduled). These facts are not in dispute. As a result, I remain optimistic that common sense and evidence will ultimately trump ideology, and that advocates will one day be able to look back upon this process as marking the beginning of the end of federal cannabis prohibition.”

David Culver, David Culver, head of policy for the U.S. Cannabis Council, said the while the group is “disappointed to see a potential delay” it remains “confident in the process.”

“The debate around this is over with both leading presidential candidates embracing rescheduling—the policy and the politics are aligned; it’s now only a matter of time,” he said.

DEA has already made clear that it feels additional information is needed on a number of topics related to the scientific review into marijuana that led to the reclassification recommendation. Some view the scheduling of the hearing as more evidence of DEA skepticism.

For what it’s worth, Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, says part of the reason for the delay in the administration’s marijuana rescheduling effort is federal bureaucracy that “slows things down,” including at DEA.

In March, Harris also expressed some frustration with the bureaucratic process of rescheduling marijuana, prior to DOJ’s formal recommendation, calling on DEA to expediently finish the job.

While the Biden-Harris administration facilitated the review that led to the DOJ rescheduling proposal, former President Donald Trump, the GOP presidential nominee, has also voiced support for the reform. And in a historic first for the U.S. both he and Harris are aligned in their support for cannabis legalization.

Read the DEA materials on the forthcoming marijuana rescheduling hearing below: 

Marijuana-Rescheduling-Order-DEA-ALJ by KyleJaeger on Scribd

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