A federal appellate court on Wednesday rejected an attempt by notorious cannabis prohibitionists to temporarily halt the Trump administration’s marijuana rescheduling push before a final court ruling.
Washington, D.C.-based Smart Approaches to Marijuana had been joined by a publicly traded MMJ company in an effort to block via court order the reclassification of state-licensed medical cannabis to a Schedule 3 drug.
But to date, they have failed to satisfy “the stringent requirements for a stay pending court review,” a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals found in a Sept. 9 ruling.
That means that state law-abiding medical cannabis companies, including publicly traded firms that have successfully uplisted to the New York Stock Exchange, can continue seeking U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration registration.
Is marijuana rescheduling going forward?
The “denial of SAM’s motion is a loss for prohibitionists,” Michael Bronstein, the president of the American Trade Association for Cannabis and Hemp, said in a statement Wednesday.
“With the medical marijuana order clearing this key hurdle and DEA registrations well underway, the U.S. is ushering in a new era of safe access for all medical marijuana patients,” he added.
The ruling only affects the attempt by SAM and a company called MMJ International Holdings and its affiliates to temporarily reverse federal marijuana rescheduling while a longer court case plays out.
In their lawsuit, filed in May, they argued that then-Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche lacked the authority to reclassify medical cannabis, and that the rescheduling push also violates international drug-control treaties.
More filings are due in that matter within 30 days, according to Wednesday’s order. The Trump administration Justice Department will continue advocating for marijuana rescheduling.
And it doesn’t affect the pending decision from the DEA’s top administrative law judge on the Trump administration proposal to reclassify all “marijuana” as defined under federal law as a Schedule 3 drug.
Does federal marijuana rescheduling apply to adult-use cannabis?
The court also rejected a motion to intervene filed by MedPharma Iowa, which does business as Bud & Mary’s, and TriMountain Pure, two “Medical Marijuana Companies” that applied for DEA registration under the April final Justice Department order.
Those companies claimed to have standing because they filed DEA applications and “paid over $7,000 in nonrefundable application fees,” according to a July 17 filing.
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However, the D.C. Circuit ruled, they did not “demonstrate that their interests in this litigation are not adequately represented by existing parties.”
Bud & Mary’s submitted four DEA applications and. Tri-Mountain submitted a DEA dispensaryregistration application, paid a nonrefundable fee, and devoted substantial executive time, professional resources, and operational attention to preparing for a federally regulated schedule III marketplace.
