A federal appeals court has rejected a petition urging that the DEA reassess cannabis classification under the Controlled Substances Act, ruling that researchers and military vets pursuing the classification assessment had not exhausted all administrative options. But one judge wrote in a supporting opinion that the DEA could eventually be obligated to review a shift in policy due to a misconception of cannabis’ therapeutic benefits.
The lawsuit, which was submitted last year, in June saw oral arguments and focuses on the DEA’s rejection of a single-page cannabis reclassification plea submitted by a different individual in 2020. The department said in its reply that cannabis has no officially recognized medicinal usefulness.
Judge Paul Watford did note that, “in an case, the Drug Enforcement Administration may well be obliged to initiate a reclassification proceeding for marijuana, given the strength of petitioners’ arguments that the agency has misinterpreted the controlling statute by concluding that marijuana ‘has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.’”
