Public Comments Strongly Favor Rescheduling or Descheduling Cannabis in DEA Proposal

According to data platform Headset, the majority of the nearly 43,000 comments submitted during the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) public comment period were reportedly in favor of rescheduling or descheduling cannabis (1). From May 20, 2024, through July 22, 2024, the DEA held a public comment period on the proposed rulemaking on the rescheduling of cannabis from a schedule I substance to a less-restrictive categorization of schedule III (2). Headset noted that the number of comments was the most ever received on a DEA proposal (3).

Using Generative AI and language models, Headset processed over 42,000 comments and compiled the data in a detailed and comprehensive analysis of the results and of several topics related to cannabis policy in the US. According to this analysis, only about 8% of comments favored keeping cannabis in its current status; the rest were in favor of a change. Of those comments, about 60% of the total comments favored descheduling cannabis and about 40% favored a schedule III categorization.

The DEA’s posted summary of the proposed rulemaking reads in full (2):

• The Department of Justice (“DOJ”) proposes to transfer marijuana from schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act (“CSA”) to schedule III of the CSA, consistent with the view of the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) that marijuana has a currently accepted medical use as well as HHS's views about marijuana's abuse potential and level of physical or psychological dependence. The CSA requires that such actions be made through formal rulemaking on the record after opportunity for a hearing. If the transfer to schedule III is finalized, the regulatory controls applicable to schedule III controlled substances would apply, as appropriate, along with existing marijuana-specific requirements and any additional controls that might be implemented, including those that might be implemented to meet U.S. treaty obligations. If marijuana is transferred into schedule III, the manufacture, distribution, dispensing, and possession of marijuana would remain subject to the applicable criminal prohibitions of the CSA. Any drugs containing a substance within the CSA's definition of “marijuana” would also remain subject to the applicable prohibitions in the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (“FDCA”). DOJ is soliciting comments on this proposal.

As Cat Packer, director of drug markets and legal regulation with the Drug Policy Alliance, noted (3), cannabis rescheduling would not confront several issues such as “the conflict between federal laws and state laws. And, significantly for the communities that we serve, rescheduling marijuana does nothing to acknowledge or address the racist origins of marijuana criminalization, or its resulting racial disparities.”

Policies around medical cannabis would also remain to be addressed. On the final day of the comment period, Americans for Safe Access (ASA), a medical cannabis patient advocacy organization, held a press briefing covering next steps in the cannabis rescheduling process from a medical cannabis patient perspective (4). Their briefing, titled “Healthcare Experts & Cannabis Stakeholders Clear the Smoke on Cannabis Scheduling,” was hosted by ASA founder Steph Sherer and featured five guest speakers—a patient, a doctor, a caregiver, and a pharmacist, and a veteran—who shared their various perspectives on how medical cannabis has affected their lives and, subsequently, how rescheduling would affect cannabis for them. As Sherer explained, “Americans for Safe Access wanted to make sure that as we are moving into the next phase of the scheduling process that we're hearing from a variety of voices that are impacted by scheduling.”

References

1. Team Headset, Unprecedented Support for Cannabis Scheduling Reform Revealed by Data from the DEA Comment Period, https://www.headset.io/industry-reports/unprecedented-support-for-cannabis-scheduling-reform-dea-comment-period (accessed Aug 5, 2024).
2. Drug Enforcement Administration, Schedules of Controlled Substances: Rescheduling of Marijuana https://www.regulations.gov/document/DEA-2024-0059-0001 (accessed Aug 5, 2024).
3. Harris, H.G., Nearly 43,000 people commented on the DEA reclassifying cannabis. What did they say? https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/jul/27/dea-cannabis-classification (accessed Aug 5, 2024).
4. McEvoy, E., Medical Cannabis Stakeholders Discuss Impact of Proposed Rescheduling, https://www.cannabissciencetech.com/view/medical-cannabis-stakeholders-discuss-impact-of-proposed-rescheduling (accessed Aug 5, 2024).