It was one year ago on Friday that President Joe Biden issued a mass marijuana pardon and directed an administrative scheduling review. Lawmakers and advocates say it’s time to do more. While there is broad based consensus among reform supporters that the president’s action last year represented a positive step in the right direction, on […]| Marijuana Moment
Georgia recently became the first U.S. state to allow pharmacies to sell medical marijuana, with nearly 120 facilities applying to sell cannabis oil as of October. But now the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is warning pharmacies that dispensing THC is unlawful because it remains a Schedule I drug. “All DEA registrants, including DEA-registered pharmacies, […]| Marijuana Moment
A coalition of 14 Republican congressional lawmakers is urging the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to “reject” the top federal health agency’s recommendation to reschedule marijuana and instead keep it in the most restrictive category under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). In a letter sent to DEA Administrator Anne Milgram on Monday, Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) […]| Marijuana Moment
The governors of six U.S. states—Colorado, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, Maryland and Louisiana—sent a letter to President Joe Biden (D) on Tuesday urging the administration to reschedule marijuana to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act by the end of this year. The move, they say, will provide economic and tax benefits for cannabis […]| Marijuana Moment
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is telling lawmakers that it reserves “the final authority” to make any scheduling decision on marijuana following an ongoing review, regardless of what the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recommends. In a letter sent to Congressional Cannabis Caucus co-chair Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), DEA Acting Chief of […]| Marijuana Moment
A coalition of 31 bipartisan House lawmakers has sent a letter to the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), urging the agency to take into account congressional and state marijuana legalization efforts as it carries out a review into cannabis scheduling. They also criticized the limitations of simple rescheduling as they push for complete […]| Marijuana Moment
A coalition of 12 Democratic state attorneys general is urging the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to move forward with federal marijuana rescheduling, calling the policy change a “public safety imperative.” In a letter led by Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser (D) that was sent to DEA Administrator Anne Milgram on Friday, the top state law […]| Marijuana Moment
Six former Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) heads and five former White House drug czars have sent a letter to the attorney general and current DEA administrator, voicing opposition to the top federal health agency’s recommendation to reschedule marijuana. They also made a questionable claim about the relationship between drug schedules and criminal penalties in a […]| Marijuana Moment
Two GOP senators, including the lead Republican sponsor of a marijuana banking bill, have officially filed new legislation to prevent federal agencies from rescheduling cannabis without tacit approval from Congress. Sens. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and Steve Daines (R-MT) are sponsoring the Deferring Executive Authority (DEA) Act, which they briefly previewed this week in statements about […]| Marijuana Moment
The U.S. government has released hundreds of pages of documents related to its ongoing review of marijuana’s status under federal law, officially confirming for the first time that health officials have recommended the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) place cannabis in Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). The 252 pages of documents from the […]| Marijuana Moment