A coalition of doctors and researchers advocating for marijuana rescheduling has petitioned a federal court to intervene in what they argue is a secretive and biased process led by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
The group, known as Doctors for Drug Policy Reform (DDPR), filed its petition Monday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, seeking to force the DEA to revise key steps in its handling of marijuana’s classification under federal law.
Led by Dr. Bryon Adinoff, a clinical researcher and professor of psychiatry at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, DDPR contends that the DEA’s decision-making has excluded key stakeholders without justification. The group was among 138 parties denied the opportunity to participate in an administrative hearing regarding the potential move of marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act.
The rescheduling process has faced repeated delays. Last spring, the Justice Department under then-President Joe Biden recommended shifting marijuana to Schedule III, overruling the DEA. However, former DEA Administrator Anne Milgram stated that no final decision would be made until after an administrative hearing, which was originally scheduled for Jan. 21. That hearing has since been indefinitely postponed, pending an appeal to DEA leadership—a process the agency controls entirely.
The petition argues that the DEA has failed to provide transparency or valid reasoning for its actions, limiting designated participants to just 25 without explanation and rejecting requests from governors of states such as Colorado and New York. It further claims that the agency’s secrecy prevents judicial review of whether its decisions were made based on lawful criteria. The DDPR is asking the court to overturn the DEA’s participant selection process and require it to be redone with greater transparency and fairness.
The DEA has yet to respond to the petition, which stems from a lawsuit originally filed in November after DDPR’s request to participate was denied.
For the full 56-page court filing, click here.
