The DEA has recently finished their public comment portion of a potential rescheduling of marijuana, and they got tens of thousands of opinions. The DEA has now scheduled an optional procedural step in which opposing views will be heard on the move.
This is all fine, and makes sense considering this would be a pretty considerable step for the DEA to make with cannabis. However, the hearing is scheduled for December 2nd of this year, meaning we won’t be seeing any action taken before the election. This is certainly disappointing as the timeline seemed to be heading towards a swift move to Schedule III for marijuana within the coming months. Now, the decision probably won’t be made until early next year.
At that point, the sticking of this effort will depend entirely on who is in the executive branch. Trump has stated that it’s an issue that should be left to the states, meaning any effort by the federal government is probably something he wouldn’t support. Harris, on the other hand, is more progressive on the issue than even Biden, and the whole effort might be mute for her if she would rather just legalize the entire plant.
Either way, moving the decision to after the election completely changes its meaning, and may cancel out its impact altogether.
Read the original story at Marijuana Moment.
