The long-awaited public hearing on marijuana rescheduling will begin on January 21, according to an order issued last month by a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) administrative law judge.
The hearings will feature arguments from the DEA, proponents of rescheduling, and designated opposition groups, with sessions scheduled to continue into early March, covering a 6-week period. The hearings will be focused on the DEA’s proposal to move marijuana from its current status as a Schedule I drug, making it illegal for all purposes, to the less restrictive Schedule III.
The hearings will follow this schedule:
- 1/21/2025: Government official
- 1/22/2025: Hemp for Victory
- 1/23/2025: Cannabis Bioscience International Holdings
- 1/28/2025: Connecticut Office of the Cannabis Ombudsman
- 1/29/2025: National Cannabis Industry Association
- 1/30/2025: Village Farms International
- 2/4/2025: The Commonwealth Project
- 2/5/2025: Veterans Initiative 22
- 2/6/2025: Dr. Ari Kirshenbaum
- 2/18/2025: Tennessee Bureau of Investigation
- 2/19/2025: International Association of Chiefs of Police
- 2/20/2025: Drug Enforcement Association of Federal Narcotics Agents
- 2/25/2025: Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) and State of Nebraska
- 2/26/2025: Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America
- 2/27/2025: Cannabis Industry Victims Educating Litigators
- 3/4/2025: Dr. Kenneth Finn
- 3/5/2025: National Drug and Alcohol Screening Association
- 3/6/2025: Dr. Phillip Drum
The judge has stated that the more than 43,000 public comments submitted after the DEA’s proposed rulemaking notice are not considered admissible evidence. “Admitting the comments into a hearing record where they cannot be considered would indeed be a pointless exercise,” Mulrooney wrote. Of the over 43,000 comments, over 90% were in support of either rescheduling marijuana, or going further by fully descheduling it.
The DEA is expected to issue a final order following conclusion of the hearings, but it’s uncertain if that will take days, weeks, or even months.
