The DEA is in 'Final Deliberative Process' to Decide Marijuana's Fate, and we could hear their ruling at any time before the end of this month.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency is about to make a decision that could have wide-ranging implications on the state-sanctioned marijuana industry: to reschedule or not to reschedule marijuana's position as an illegal substance, or possibly to split parts of marijuana off from the controlled substances act.
Since 1970, marijuana has been on the list of Schedule I drugs, which defines chemicals under the Controlled Substances Act as a drug with high potential for abuse and no medical benefits. Marijuana, heroin, and LSD are Schedule I drugs, while cocaine, methamphetamine, and oxycodone are Schedule II. Drugs are rescheduled often, but marijuana has been deemed a Schedule I substance for 46 years, which makes it illegal to grow, possess, use, or distribute under federal law. Although some states have already voted to legalize some or all, marijuana is illegal.
According to Russell Baer, a special agent at the DEA’s office of public affairs, the DEA already received the Food and Drug Administration's recommendation on the rescheduling, which is a key part of the rescheduling process stipulated by the Controlled Substance Act. Baer won't reveal what that recommendation was. The DEA now is conducting its own eight-factor analysis to study the drug's potential for abuse, the current state of medical and scientific knowledge, the history and pattern of abuse, and other considerations. Once that is complete, the DEA's administrator, Chuck Rosenberg, makes the final call.
Baer says the decision will be in line with the current scientific and medical findings surrounding marijuana's status as a beneficial drug.
"We are bound by the FDA's scheduling recommendations," says Baer.
If the DEA recommends rescheduling marijuana to II, III, IV, or V, or removing it from the list of controlled substances altogether, any change in designation will have big implications for the legal industry across 31 states and Washington, D.C. If pot is rescheduled, it could also open up the industry to import-export and help increase the potential for a nationwide, regulated market. In other words, it could welcome marijuana into the mainstream economy of the United States.
If the DEA decides marijuana is still a Schedule I drug (I think this is unlikely), Baer says the agency will not be dropping down into Colorado, Washington, and Oregon from black helicopters and arresting everyone.
"Even if it remains a Schedule I substance, the DEA will continue to allocate its resources and time to the biggest and most violent drug traffickers," he says, explaining most of the agency's resources are being used to deal with the current opioid epidemic, which kills more people each year than auto accidents.
While the states are technically breaking federal law, the DEA is not going to waste its resources on regulated marijuana industries that have been approved by local voters, Baer says.
Baer wouldn't give a specific date for the decision, but he said the process is nearly complete and the agency is waiting to hear Rosenberg's decision whether marijuana is considered a medicine or if it's still a dangerous substance. That decision will be made this month (within days).
While the DEA continues to deliberate the rescheduling of cannabis, the agency will continue to support increased medical and scientific studies on weed.
In my opinion, the process is nearly done at the DEA, and I predict a split decision regarding cannabis. I suspect THC will continue on the Controlled Substances Act, while CBD will be removed because of all the antidotal evidence of its medical benefits. There are five levels to the Controlled Substances Act, and right now marijuana is listed as a schedule 1 substance (this is the highest or most sever ranking). However, even moving CBD to a level 5 substance still means there is very little evidence of medical benefit. This is why I suspect the DEA will remove CBD from that list altogether. The decision is only hours or days away. Hold on to your hats folks, it’s about to get interesting.
