The frozen US cannabis rescheduling process appears to be stuck in limbo for the foreseeable future, as the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA’s) new management confirmed the process ‘remains pending’.
In a joint report to DEA Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) John Mulrooney earlier this week, DEA representatives said that no progress has been made six months after it was ‘temporarily’ suspended amid an interlocutory appeal.
As part of its requirements to update on progress every 90 days, the DEA issued a near identical statement in April, stating that the then Acting Administrator Derek Maltz has yet to set a briefing schedule that would allow parties to formally present arguments on whether the DEA should be allowed to continue acting as the proponent of the rule change.
On Monday, a further notice stated that the ‘interlocutory appeal to the Acting Administrator regarding their Motion to Reconsider remains pending with the Acting Administrator’, and that no briefing schedule has been set’.
Meanwhile, the DEA has had yet another change in leadership, following the departure of Derek Maltz in May, which has largely flown under the radar.
Maltz, who is a staunch anti-cannabis figure, is understood to have been succeeded by Deputy Administrator Robert Murphy, though the DEA has not yet made an official announcement as to its leadership changes.
The dangerous truth about marijuana advocates don’t want you to know.
“CANNABIS USE RAISES RISK OF HEART ATTACK AND STROKE MORE THAN COCAINE, OTHER DRUGS, MAJOR REVIEW SUGGESTS”
Let’s not forget about the Chinese criminal networks that are running grow operations all over the…
— Derek Maltz Sr (@derekmaltz_sr) July 1, 2025
This transition appears to have been kept quiet by the DEA, with Maltz announcing his departure on his personal LinkedIn profile, but numerous sources continuing to cite him as acting administrator, and the ‘DEA Leadership’ tab on the administration’s official website inaccessible.
Regardless, Murphy is not expected to captain the ship for long, as Trump’s nomination for the role, Terrance Cole, awaits confirmation.
During a confirmation hearing in May, he informed lawmakers that reviewing the stalled process would be ‘one of my first priorities’ if confirmed. However, the long-serving law enforcement official stopped short of endorsing the proposed reclassification itself, citing a need to study the issue further.
Cole acknowledged delays in the DEA’s ongoing review of cannabis’s status under federal law, stating that he was ‘not familiar exactly where we are, but I know the process has been delayed numerous times, and it’s time to move forward.’
When pressed by Sen. Alex Padilla, a Democrat from California, as to whether he would commit to seeing the process through, he declined to offer a concrete position, stating only that he ‘need(s) to understand more where the agencies are, and look at the science behind it,” he said, adding that he wanted to ‘listen to the experts’ before making a determination.
