With four weeks left in the 60-day public comment period for the DEA’s marijuana rescheduling proposal, 25,000 comments have been submitted.
The DEA’s plan to move marijuana to Schedule III has garnered around 720 comments each day since it was officially published in the Federal Register on May 21. There’s now four weeks remaining before the public comment period ends on July 22.
The DEA, a branch of the Department of Justice, is proposing the first change to marijuana’s scheduling status since the Controlled Substances Act was introduced in 1970. Moving marijuana to Schedule III would acknowledge its medical value and allow its compounds and medicines to be prescribed nationwide.
An analysis of the submitted comments finds that over 90% support a change in the status quo — which currently lists marijuana as a Schedule I drug — with around 52% in favor of descheduling. Descheduling marijuana would remove it from the Controlled Substances Act altogether, decriminalizing it nationwide.
All comments to the DEA are publicly accessible and can be viewed by clicking here. You can submit your own comment by clicking here.
According to a DEA official, the entire process of rescheduling marijuana on track to be finalized by October.
Polling released in May found that two-thirds of voters in the United States support the move to reclassify marijuana.
