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DEA Says Feds Should Grow 1,000 Pounds of Marijuana in 2017

By Tom Angell on July 21, 2016


The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) just made a big decision on marijuana.

While it’s not the much-anticipated determination of whether cannabis should be rescheduled under the Controlled Substances Act, the new action could provide a hint about how DEA will rule on marijuana’s federal classification in a decision that is expected soon.

In 2017, licensed cultivators should produce 472,000 grams of marijuana to meet the “estimated medical, scientific, research and industrial needs of the United States,” Acting DEA Administrator Chuck Rosenberg wrote in a notice scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on Friday.

That’s about 1,041 pounds of cannabis.

That production quota is less than the 658,000 grams, or roughly 1,451 pounds, of marijuana DEA allocated for 2016.

The drop could be seen as an indication that DEA will deny pending petitions to reschedule cannabis. Researchers and advocates have pointed to marijuana’s Schedule I status as major roadblock to conducting studies on the drug’s medical benefits. Douglas Throckmorton of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) testified before the Senate last year that marijuana’s Schedule I status means there are “additional steps” that scientists wishing to study it must take and that reclassification would expand opportunities for research.

As Marijuana.com first reported last year, DEA has already received a recommendation from FDA about whether to move marijuana out of its current status as a Schedule I substance, though it is unknown what that recommendation entails.

DEA’s rescheduling ruling could come any day now. In a letter to U.S. senators earlier this year, DEA said it hoped to “release its determination in the first half of 2016.” But even though that timeline meant the ruling was expected before July 1, the agency still hasn’t announced a decision.

Putting cannabis in Schedule II or lower would likely lead to an increase in the number of scientists applying and being approved to study it. That DEA is anticipating a reduced need for marijuana research supplies next year could be a sign that the agency has decided against rescheduling.


Read more http://www.marijuana.com/blog/news/2016/07/dea-says-feds-should-grow-1000-pounds-of-marijuana-in-2017/