The Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) proposal to reschedule marijuana is set to be finalized by October, according to a DEA official.
On May 21, the DEA published its proposal to move marijuana to Schedule III in the Federal Register, launching a legally mandated 60-day public comment period. Once this period ends on July 22, the DEA will analyze the comments and determine a final ruling, which will also be published in the Federal Register. This process can take weeks or months.
Now, an official at the DEA tells us that the agency is aiming to complete the review of comments “within 60 days” at the direction of Attorney General Merrick Garland’s office, with a final decision coming soon after. The official says it’s possible the review could be completed even quicker, with a finalized ruling coming “by the end of September, but as soon as the end of August.”
The official asked to remain anonymous, and we were not able to verify their statements. However, we independently confirmed that the individual does work for the DEA. The same official informed us in January that DEA was on track to reschedule marijuana by the end of summer, correctly predicting that a rescheduling announcement “could come even sooner” than the summer (the Department of Justice confirmed the move on April 30).
Currently there have been over 7,500 comments submitted on the DEA’s rescheduling proposal, with just 3% requesting that marijuana remain Schedule I and two-thirds in support of descheduling marijuana altogether.
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