When we wrote in May about the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) final order (the Order) immediately moving FDA-approved cannabis products and state-licensed medical cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), we predicted the move was likely to draw legal challenges. That prediction turned out to be correct.
Three petitions challenging the order have since been filed and consolidated before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, setting up what is likely to become the first appellate test of the DOJ’s interpretation of its scheduling authority under the CSA. At the same time, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has launched an expedited administrative hearing to determine whether cannabis more broadly should also be transferred to Schedule III. The hearing began on June 29 and is scheduled to conclude by July 15.