DEA selects only cannabis foes to participate in marijuana rescheduling hearing

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration will consider evidence and testimony from some of cannabis reform’s most sworn enemies during potentially historic hearings on marijuana’s status under federal law that are scheduled to begin on June 29.

And that’s all from whom the DEA will hear – with no advocates of marijuana scheduling or descheduling allowed, according to a list of “interested parties” the agency released late Thursday.

The omission of any representatives from the roughly $30 billion U.S. cannabis industry or advocates for legalization, cannabis patients and other reforms angered and surprised some organizations that had applied to participate in the hearings, which the Trump Justice Department announced in April while downgrading state-licensed medical cannabis to a Schedule 3 drug.

But other would-be participants and observers struck a different tone.

Who was selected to participate in the DEA marijuana rescheduling hearing?

Under federal law, only parties “adversely affected or aggrieved” by a proposed change to federal policy – such as relaxing federal rules on cannabis for the first time since the Nixon administration – qualify as “interested parties.”

That would not include pro-cannabis advocates, as the DEA explained in rejection notices sent late Thursday afternoon, copies of which were obtained by MJBizDaily.

And, observers added, a shorter list of participants could allow proceedings to move more swiftly.

“This would be considered the expected outcome,” said Doug Benns, a consultant who chairs the executive committee of the American Council for Cannabis Medicine, which advocates for MMJ and had its application rejected via email from the DEA on Thursday.

“A lot of us were considered longshots to be in there, quite frankly,” he added. “They (the DEA) are trying to hear from the opposition.”

Will the DEA reschedule or deschedule all cannabis?

According to a notice published in April in the Federal Register, the hearings before a DEA administrative law judge will consider “the proposed rescheduling of marijuana into schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act.”

Notably, the advisory added, the hearings will consider the Biden administration-era proposal to reclassify all cannabis as Schedule 3 – which goes well beyond the Trump administration’s April final rule that downgraded only state-licensed medical cannabis.

According to a list published on the DEA website Thursday afternoon, the parties selected to participate in the June 29 hearings are:

• National Drug & Alcohol Screening Association
• Tennessee Bureau of Investigation
• Smart Approaches to Marijuana
• The states of Nebraska, Idaho, Indiana and Louisiana
• DUID Victim Voices
• Kenneth Finn, MD
• Phillip A. Drum, PharmD

In a statement, Washington, D.C.-area based Smart Approaches to Marijuana, whose political action arm is bankrolling a state ballot initiative that would end adult-use sales in Massachusetts, said it “looks forward to presenting the science, the data, and the public health stakes that demonstrate why rescheduling should be rejected.”

“We are grateful for the opportunity to make our case,” SAM CEO Kevin Sabet said in the statement.

“Rescheduling marijuana would be the greatest drug policy mistake in a generation.”

What is the Trump administration’s cannabis reform policy?

Several of these parties were also selected to participate in the aborted administrative law judge hearings that started on the eve of President Donald Trump’s second inauguration.

Those hearings were indefinitely paused after some pro-cannabis participants alleged the DEA was biasing proceedings toward keeping cannabis Schedule 1.

Some rejected participants argued that the DEA’s current roster of participants means it’ll be up to the DEA to defend the Trump administration’s reclassification of cannabis as medicine.

“The upcoming rescheduling hearing will now strictly include prohibitionist parties that oppose President Trump’s position on rescheduling,” said Michael Bronstein, the president of the American Trade Association for Cannabis and Hemp (ATACH).

ATACH had applied to participate in the hearing and was “deeply disappointed” to not be selected, he added.

“ATACH’s exclusion from the hearing represents a missed opportunity for the ALJ to hear directly from key scientific and medical experts on the medical-use and safety profile of cannabis,” Bronstein said.

“Instead, the selected roster is a who’s who of prohibitionist voices who have little-to-no experience with the medical use of cannabis.”

Will marijuana be legalized under Donald Trump?

Relaxing federal rules on medical cannabis has already led to major advancements for MMJ operators, who are no longer subject to onerous federal tax rules under a section of the Internal Revenue Code that forbids business deductions.

One marijuana multistate operator, Trulieve Cannabis Corp., made history earlier this month when it was listed on the New York Stock Exchange – the first U.S.-based publicly traded company to graduate from secondary exchanges.

But much more needs to be done for all operators, particularly small businesses, said Erika Gorman Kirk, the official cannabis ombudsman for the state of Connecticut, who was selected as a participant for the Biden-era hearings.

“Every serious stakeholder knows the two-tier system that exists today – medical at Schedule 3 and adult use still on Schedule 1 – does not give the supply chain something to stand on,” she told MJBizDaily. “It gives them a fault line to fall through.”

She added: “That is what June 29 is actually about, and the participant list suggests the DEA would prefer not to hear it out loud.”

Chris Roberts can be reached at chris.roberts@mjbizdaily.com.