DEA seeks to reduce federal marijuana quotas for research

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration wants to reduce the amount of marijuana and other drugs it plans to produce for research purposes.

The DEA’s goal is to decrease the amount of marijuana from 472,000 grams – about 1,040 pounds – it allotted in 2017 to 443,680 grams – about 978 pounds – for next year, according to the Denver Post.

The new quotas were released as part of the DEA’s newly proposed 2018 aggregate production quotas for substances listed on Schedules 1 and 2 of the Controlled Substances Act, which are the two most tightly controlled drug classifications. Cannabis remains a Schedule 1 substance.

The DEA is now in a 30-day comment period for the proposed changes, the Post reported.

For decades, the federal government has given the job of cultivating marijuana for research to the University of Mississippi. But last year, the government opened up the process and has received more than 20 applications, though it has been slow to act on them.

Marijuana provided by the government has drawn criticism from researchers who claim it isn’t representative of product found in medical cannabis states, according to the Post.