The Drug Enforcement Agency’s (DEA) Administrator, Anne Milgram, has come under fire from GOP congressmen over the apparent divergence of opinion surrounding cannabis rescheduling.
After months of radio silence from the DEA regarding its review of a recommendation that cannabis should be moved to a Schedule III substance, President Biden announced that the decision had now been made to move ahead with rescheduling earlier this month.
However, to the surprise of many, the proposals were signed off by the Attorney General, Merrick Garland, and Milgram’s signature was notably absent.
“DEA has not yet made a determination as to its views of the appropriate schedule for marijuana,” Garland wrote in his 92-page proposal earlier this month.
This represented a break from the usual framework, which would have seen the DEA, rather than the Department of Justice (DOJ), have final say on matters of drug scheduling.
Now, GOP congressmen Andrew Clyde and Ben Cline have written to Milgram to press for an explanation of why she failed to sign the proposals, while citing ‘grave concern’ over her repeated refusal to respond to questions’ from members of congress on the topic.
According to recent reports from the Associated Press, DEA deputies were informed in March that the DOJ would sign the document instead of her, while the DOJ is understood to have overruled the DEA’s request for more time to make its decision.
This growing tension between the federal organizations is being further exacerbated by a string of lawsuits against Milgram and the DEA.
One such lawsuit is being brought by MMJ BioPharma Cultivation, which aims to grow pharmaceutical marijuana for FDA-sanctioned, claims it has faced significant obstruction from the DEA.
Last month, the company filed a lawsuit against Milgram, several DEA personnel and Garland, accusing the DEA of unexplained and unanswered delays in facilitating cannabis research.
