US Democratic Senators’ demands for the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to make public the steps it is taking to act on the recommendations from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that cannabis should be rescheduled.
On January 29, 12 Democratic senators sent a letter to the DEA and Attorney General Merrick Garland demanding they respond to six questions regarding where the current review of rescheduling stands, what evidence the agency is using, and what the timeline looks like, among other issues.
Furthermore, the group of Senators, led by Elizabeth Warren, suggested that the DEA should ‘deschedule’ cannabis from the controlled substances act altogether, arguing its inclusion ‘has had a devastating impact on our communities and is increasingly out of step with state law and public opinion’.
While the senators gave the DEA until February 12 to respond, the deadline has come and gone with no response, as confirmed by the Cannabis Business Times yesterday.
The letter is just one of many attempts from across the political spectrum to call for more transparency and speed in coming to a decision on the rescheduling recommendations.
Earlier this week, an Oregon Democratic congressman and one of the co-chairs of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, Earl Blumenauer, similarly called for the DEA to lay out a timeline for rescheduling.
As Business of Cannabis reported last month, Congressman Steve Cohen called on the agency to ‘act expeditiously’ on the HHS’ recommendations.
It comes amid growing speculation that a significant announcement could be made imminently regarding rescheduling following statements from two prominent figures last week, though this has been denied by the government.
