The House Appropriations Committee has released a report directing the Department of Health and Human Services to explain their decision to recommend marijuana be moved to Schedule III.

Yesterday, the House Appropriations Committee approved the 2025 appropriations bill for Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies, which includes language that would block the Biden Administration’s effort to reschedule marijuana. Now, the committee has released a report for the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food, and Drug Administration appropriations bill, which states that the Committee “is concerned about deviations from established drug scheduling evaluation standards in the FDA 2023 marijuana scheduling review.”

The report says the Committee “directs the HHS Inspector General to complete a report on the 2023 marijuana scheduling review including but not limited to: deviations from the established five-factor currently accepted medical use test, justification for a new, two-factor currently accepted medical use test and whether this will be the standard for all future reviews, use of a limited number of hand-selected comparator substances, and inclusion of research results that are not statistically significant or inconclusive.”
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Washington State is advancing a new measure that seeks to legalize the personal use of several psychedelic substances, including psilocybin, psilocin, mescaline, and DMT.

Psilocybin (top left), mescaline (top right), DMT (bottom left), and psilocin (bottom right).

Spearheaded by the Responsible Entheogen Access and Community Healing Coalition (REACH WA), the initiative, now known as Initiative 2076, recently received its official ballot title and summary from the state’s secretary of state. This allows the campaign to begin collecting signatures. If they gather 324,516 signatures from registered Washington voters by July 2025, the initiative will be placed on the November 2025 ballot.

Under the proposed law, the noncommercial cultivation, possession, and transfer of psilocybin, psilocin, mescaline, DMT and  5-MeO-DMT would be legal for those 21 and older. Although these substances would not be sold through retail outlets, the measure does permit paid “supportive services,” enabling facilitators to be compensated for guiding psychedelic experiences. This model aligns with similar frameworks already established in Oregon and Colorado.
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In the U.S. Congress, bicameral legislation to decriminalize marijuana now has 111 sponsors. Although President Biden has not given a position on these measures, his press secretary says it’s “very, very clear” he support the decriminalization of marijuana.

In May, a coalition of 18 United States senators filed the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act (CAOA) to deschedule marijuana and allow the expungement of past marijuana convictions. Filing of the bill came a little over a year after the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act was filed in the House with five sponsors. The MORE Act, which would also deschedule marijuana, now has 92 sponsors.

Combined, the two bills have 1110 sponsors, all Democrat. The SAFE and SAFER Banking Acts are the only other marijuana-related bills in US Congress with more support.
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A key committee in the US House of Representatives has given approval to a spending bill that includes a provision to prevent the rescheduling of marijuana.

The House Appropriations Committee gave approval today to the 2025 appropriations bill for Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies. The proposal includes language that would block the Justice Department from reallocating funds to reschedule or remove marijuana from its current classification as a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act. This would put a halt to the DEA’s proposal to reschedule marijuana, which is currently undergoing a legally required 60-day public comment period, with over 28,000 comments already submitted.

Specially, SEC. 623 of the bill states that “None of the funds appropriated or other wise made available by this Act may be used to reschedule marijuana (as such term is defined in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802)) or to remove marijuana from the schedules established under section 202 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 812).”
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According to an official with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the agency’s proposal to reschedule marijuana is still on track to be finalized by October, most likely in September.

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—a process that can take weeks or months.

On May 29, an official at the DEA told us that the agency aims 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.”

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There are now just 13 days left in the 60-day public comment period for the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) proposal to reschedule marijuana.

On May 21, the DEA published its marijuana rescheduling plans in the Federal Register, initiating a legally required 60-day public comment period. As of July 9, with 13 days remaining, 28,000 comments have been submitted.

Approximately 70% of these comments urge the DEA to go even further, advocating for full descheduling, decriminalization, or legalization of marijuana. Descheduling would decriminalize the plant nationwide by removing it entirely from the federal Controlled Substances Act.
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In the United States House of Representatives, legislation that would fully deschedule marijuana and allow expungement of marijuana convictions has gained its 93rd sponsor.

Yesterday, Congressmember Greg Landsman (D-OH) officially became a sponsor of the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act, first introduced in April 2023. This addition brings the total number of sponsors to 93, making the SAFE Banking Act the only marijuana-related bill in Congress with more sponsors (124).

The MORE Act aims to deschedule marijuana, effectively decriminalizing it on a national level. It proposes a federal excise tax of 5% on legal marijuana sales for the first two years, increasing to 8% by the fifth year. Additionally, the bill provides for the expungement of past marijuana convictions and safeguards against public benefit denials for marijuana users.
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