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CRS Research Says Cannabis Rescheduling Future ‘Unclear’ as Legal Challenges Emerge

This week has seen another frenetic torrent of executive orders issued by the newly inaugurated President Trump, causing chaos across almost all of America’s cornerstone institutions.

Last week, Trump signed dozens of executive orders impacting everything from climate change policy, health and medical research, immigration, to diversity programming.

Despite this, the cannabis industry has been left largely in the dark as to the future of former President Biden’s cannabis rescheduling project.

Now on hold indefinitely, even the Congressional Research Service (CRS), a public policy research institute that works exclusively for the United States Congress, is unable to predict whether the process will succeed or even continue.

Marijuana Moment reported than new analysis from the CRS, focusing on a number of cannabis-specific issues for the new administration to consider, determined that it ‘remains to be seen’ how Trump will handle rescheduling.

Furthermore, it is ‘unknown’ whether the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) would finalise the proposed rule change.

This is especially pertinent given the historically anti-cannabis stance of the DEA’s new administrator, Derek Maltz.

Mike Feldman, General Counsel at Nabis, told Business of Cannabis: “The Controlled Substances Act, along with interpretations by the Supreme Court and DOJ officials, make it clear to the Attorney General and the DEA that they are bound by the findings of the HHS Secretary on scientific and medical matters.

“While past statements from the acting director (Maltz) may raise questions, advancing the rescheduling process of cannabis is in accordance with already established procedures, and we trust that both the DEA and the incoming attorney general will honour their legal obligations and approach this responsibility with integrity.

“Cannabis reform is one of few issues that has gained bipartisan support in today’s political climate—nearly six in ten Americans favor legalization, and both 2024 presidential candidates expressed support for reform. It’s our hope that the rescheduling process will continue to move forward as prescribed by law, allowing our industry to expand responsibly, invest in communities and develop sound safety regulations.”

The CRS highlighted that even if he was so inclined, Trump does not have the power to reschedule cannabis ‘unilaterally’.

“Perhaps the most straightforward way to change a substance’s legal status under the CSA is for Congress to pass legislation,” it continued.

“If Congress wishes to change the legal status of marijuana, it could do so before or after DOJ makes any final scheduling decision.”

Elsewhere, a government transparency group, Protect the Public’s Trust (PPT), is suing the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for failing to release records related to the Biden administration’s cannabis rescheduling process.

PPT alleges that HHS has ignored Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for over 418 days, withholding communications between HHS, DOJ, DEA, and FDA about moving cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III. The lawsuit seeks to compel HHS to release the documents.

With DEA hearings delayed, the lawsuit could reveal internal conflicts that may shape the future of federal cannabis policy.

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