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Yesterday, some big news dropped that the cannabis industry has anticipated since last summer. I take issue with some of the headlines, so here’s mine: “DEA Reportedly Agrees to Initiate Proposed Rulemaking to Reschedule Marijuana…”. Clearly, I’m a lawyer and not a reporter, but the “Reportedly” and “Initiate Proposed Rulemaking” are key considerations here at the Canna Law Blog.
How did we get here?
In October of 2022, President Biden requested that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) review marijuana’s placement on Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). HHS followed that directive, and on August 30, 2023, the Department recommended that marijuana to be moved to Schedule III. My real-time analysis of what a Schedule III placement would mean can be found here. I’m not going to re-type much of that analysis today; but I stand by all of it, and I encourage you to click that link when you’re done.
What’s the next step?
I mentioned above that DEA “reportedly” has agreed to follow the HHS proposal. The very next step will be for DEA to confirm that reporting. We are likely to see a statement or press release, and
