DEA Scheduling Hearing

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I haven’t post­ed in a while, most­ly because of the uncer­tain­ty about the elec­tions. The elec­tions are over and the DEA Sched­ul­ing Hear­ings are under­way.

This is the first time that the DEA has pro­posed mov­ing cannabis to a less restric­tive sched­ule of the Con­trolled Sub­stances Act. And, because of that there is noth­ing to look back on for prece­dent. It’s unprece­dent­ed.

In the past, peti­tion­ers have asked the DEA to move cannabis off the sched­ules or to a less restric­tive sched­ule and the DEA has denied them all. When that hap­pened, the peti­tion­ers have had to show some injury from the denial in order to appeal. Of those that could show an injury, none pre­vailed on appeal.

So, this time is dif­fer­ent. In order to show an injury, you have to say you did­n’t get what you want­ed. There was an enor­mous effort to make such argu­ments dur­ing the com­ment peri­od on the DEA’s peti­tion to move cannabis from Sched­ule I to Sched­ule III over the sum­mer months. The major­i­ty of those com­menters said they want­ed cannabis off the sched­ules, and now those same peo­ple want to appeal because they did­n’t get what they want­ed.

Well, that all sounds sim­ple. But, wait. Some­thing is miss­ing. Who filed the peti­tion request­ing the DEA to remove cannabis from the sched­ules? If you can’t answer that ques­tion, I’ll tell you. Nobody. Nobody filed a peti­tion to remove cannabis from the sched­ules. The peti­tion cur­rent­ly pend­ing is only ask­ing for Sched­ule III.

I don’t know why there was such an enor­mous effort over the sum­mer to ask for remov­ing cannabis from the sched­ules dur­ing the com­ment peri­od on this one, but that was a total waste of time. If that same effort had gone into fil­ing a peti­tion to remove cannabis from the sched­ules, peo­ple would have a forum to have their voice heard. But, instead of hav­ing a voice, they have been effec­tive­ly silenced.

You can fol­low the shenani­gans, here:

Admin­is­tra­tive Law Judge Orders

www.marijuanarescheduling.com

A hear­ing is sched­uled for Decem­ber 2, 2024:

Dec. 2 Hear­ing on Resched­ul­ing