Not just medical: DEA asks for full Schedule III move

What the DEA asked for. The Drug Enforcement Administration filed its closing brief in the marijuana rescheduling hearing on August 17. The brief tells Chief Administrative Law Judge Derek Julius that marijuana “no longer fits the statutory requirements for Schedule I” and asks him to “expeditiously recommend” the transfer to Schedule III Marijuana Moment. It closed an 11-day hearing that ran June 29 through July 15 Marijuana Herald.

What the rule covers. The rule under review, proposed in May 2024, moves marijuana itself, in every form the Controlled Substances Act reaches Federal Register. April’s order stopped at FDA-approved drug products and marijuana under qualifying state medical licenses Justice Department. This rule would carry the rest, including all adult-use cannabis, out of Schedule I Congressional Research Service.

The government’s case. The government’s case rests on the 2023 federal health review, which found accepted medical use for chronic pain, anorexia tied to a medical condition, and chemotherapy nausea, and counted more than 30,000 practitioners recommending marijuana to over six million patients across 43 jurisdictions Marijuana Herald. The agency concedes abuse and dependence exist and argues both sit closer to Schedule III than to I or II Marijuana Moment.

What happens next. Julius writes a recommended decision, due only “as soon as practicable” under DEA regulations, and no rule sets a deadline for the final order either Marijuana Herald. Parties then get 20 days to file exceptions before the record goes to DEA Administrator Terrance Cole, who alone issues the final rule Marijuana Moment.

The case against the move. The opposing briefs landed the same day. Smart Approaches to Marijuana and the states of Idaho, Indiana, and Nebraska argue jointly that the government has not carried its burden. Their target is the two-part test behind the medical-use finding, which asks whether widespread medical experience exists under state-authorized programs and whether credible scientific evidence supports at least one of those uses. The states call it an invention for this review that breaks from the five-part test used in past scheduling cases Marijuana Herald.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation argues the proposal itself is invalid because the attorney general issued it after scheduling authority had been delegated to the DEA administrator. The National Drug and Alcohol Screening Association warns the move could dissolve the legal basis for federal transportation drug testing, which defines illegal drugs by Schedule I or II status. DUID Victim Voices and Dr. Kenneth Finn cite impaired driving, psychosis, and suicidality. Pharmacist Phillip Drum argues botanical marijuana needs FDA approval and standardized labeling first Marijuana Herald.

The appeal is already drafted. The opposing briefs also read as the outline of an appeal. Any final rule faces judicial review, and the authority and medical-use objections are built to follow it into court Cannabis Business Times. The attorneys general of Indiana, Nebraska, and Louisiana already sued over April’s order, in a case now consolidated with a Smart Approaches suit in the D.C. Circuit Marijuana Moment.

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A rule that survives still legalizes nothing. Schedule III keeps marijuana federally controlled and mainly relieves licensed operators of tax code Section 280E Cogent Law Group. Growing or selling outside a federal registration stays a federal crime at Schedule III, exactly as at Schedule I Congressional Research Service.