Officials with the nation\u2019s top marijuana prohibitionist advocacy group say they are hearing that the results of the Drug Enforcement Administration\u2019s (DEA) cannabis scheduling review will be announced \u201cvery soon,\u201d possibly as soon as \u201ctoday or tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n
DEA has spent the last eight months considering a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recommendation to move cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). Now leaders of the organization Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) say they\u2019re seeing indications that DEA\u2019s review is complete and will be revealed imminently.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re hearing a lot of chatter\u2014even as we\u2019re having this podcast, I\u2019m hearing from some sources that pro-marijuana Democratic senators are saying it\u2019s very soon, as in today or tomorrow,\u201d SAM President Kevin Sabet said during an interview on the organization\u2019s \u201cThe Drug Report\u201d podcast on Monday. \u201cSo it could be wishful thinking or not. I don\u2019t know whether it will be coming as we as we talk. So, again, we\u2019ll see.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rumors about the timing of a rescheduling decision have been swirling for months. But the sources of those rumors have been consistently pro-reform<\/a>, making it all the more notable that this time it\u2019s coming from a prohibitionist group that has advocated for keeping marijuana in Schedule I.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are hearing it\u2019s going to come soon. It very well could happen this week,\u201d Sabet said. \u201cBut it also could happen in three weeks. It could happen in three months. We don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n The SAM executive also reiterated his skepticism about the revised Food and Drug Administration (FDA) drug scheduling review process\u2014a talking point that\u2019s also been picked up by certain GOP lawmakers<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cOne thing I have to say: Obviously sort of a glass half full-glass half empty way to look at this. Obviously, I don\u2019t like [rescheduling] for many reasons, and we completely oppose it,\u201d Sabet said. \u201cBut the glass half full, if you\u2019re going to look at it that way\u2014and I always think you\u2019ve got to sometimes look at it that way, even if it\u2019s overall not good, you don\u2019t want it, you wanted a full glass of water\u2014but if you have a half and you look at it that way, the goalposts have changed.\u201d<\/p>\n Sabet said earlier in the interview<\/a> that SAM has \u201csome pretty decent intel that [the scheduling review is] moving through the process. There\u2019s no doubt about it.\u201d<\/p>\n He pointed out that past scheduling petitions have taken years to complete, only to have the government deny the asks to reclassify marijuana under the CSA. In this case, however, the scheduling review was directed by President Joe Biden. A DEA official also recently said it sometimes takes up to six months for the agency to complete its analysis of health officials\u2019 recommendations<\/a>\u2014which is now less than how long it has now been since the agency began its current cannabis assessment.<\/p>\n SAM has long opposed even incremental marijuana reform, and it\u2019s coordinated messaging with GOP lawmakers to discourage DEA from rescheduling marijuana. It\u2019s also encouraged supporters to reach out to their congressional representatives to oppose rescheduling, marijuana banking reform and legalization proposals.<\/p>\n Last week, a coalition of 21 congressional lawmakers told DEA to \u201cpromptly remove marijuana from Schedule I,\u201d<\/a> while recognizing that the agency may be \u201cnavigating internal disagreement\u201d on the issue.<\/p>\n That point references reporting in The Wall Street Journal that said\u00a0DEA officials are \u201cat odds\u201d with the Biden administration over the scheduling review<\/a>.<\/p>\n Marijuana Moment reached out to DEA about the status of its review multiple times in recent weeks, but representatives have not provided on-the-record comment. The White House has also so far declined to comment about the rumored timeline.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)\u00a0says there\u2019s \u201cno reason\u201d for DEA to \u201cdelay\u201d making a marijuana scheduling decision<\/a>.<\/p>\n Last month, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra defended his agency\u2019s rescheduling recommendation during a Senate committee hearing and also told cannabis lobbyist Don Murphy that he should\u00a0pay DEA a visit and \u201cknock on their door\u201d for answers about the timing<\/a>\u00a0of their decision.<\/p>\n McConnell \u2018Continues To Oppose Marijuana Banking,\u2019 His Office Says As Another Senate Aide Faults GOP Leadership For Derailing Reform Plans<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis \/\/ Side Pocket Images.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Marijuana Rescheduling Announcement Coming \u2018Very Soon,\u2019 As Early As This Week, Opposition Group Says<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Officials with the nation\u2019s top marijuana prohibitionist advocacy group say they are hearing that the results of the Drug Enforcement Administration\u2019s (DEA) cannabis scheduling review will be announced \u201cvery soon,\u201d possibly as soon as \u201ctoday or tomorrow.\u201d DEA has spent the last eight months considering a U.S. Department of HealthContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74726"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74726"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74727,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74726\/revisions\/74727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
\n
\nRead More: Marijuana Rescheduling Announcement Coming \u2018Very Soon,\u2019 As Early As This Week, Opposition Group Says<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"