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
A hearing is scheduled for December 2, 2024: