Just days after the DEA announced that it’s seeking to drastically increase the amount of THC, ibogaine and magic mushrooms being produced this year for research purposes, the agency has announced that they are also seeking to substantially increase the amount of these products it hopes is manufactured in 2024.
“The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) proposes to establish the 2024 aggregate production quotas (APQ) for controlled substances in schedules I and II of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) and the assessment of annual needs (AAN) for the list I chemicals ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, and phenylpropanolamine”, the DEA said in a notice published today on the Federal Register. “For the 2024 quota year, DEA intends to allocate procurement quotas to DEA-registered manufacturers of schedule II controlled substances on a quarterly basis.”
In order to address domestic drug shortages of controlled substances, “procurement quota allocations will be divided between quantities authorized for domestic sales and quantities authorized for export sales.”
Although the DEA is seeking to retain the quota of 6.7 million-grams of marijuana, it is requesting an increase in the amount of THC produced to 900,610 grams. This is over double the initial 384,460 gram quota for 2023, and is a 43% increase over the 628,460 grams it recently proposed increasing 2023 production to.
The DEA is also seeking to retain in 2024 the new increases it’s seeking for 2023. Specifically the DEA requested the production of psilocybin be increased from 8,000 grams to 15,000 grams, while increasing production of psilocyn by around 12,000 to 24,000. Both are psychedelic compounds found in magic mushrooms. The DEA is also seeking to increase ibogaine production from 30 grams to 150.
As with the DEA’s recent requested increases for 2023, the DEA’s notice opens up a required 30-day public comment period.