{"id":290,"date":"2025-04-16T16:01:45","date_gmt":"2025-04-16T20:01:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thefreeworldremedy.com\/blog\/?p=290"},"modified":"2025-04-16T16:01:45","modified_gmt":"2025-04-16T20:01:45","slug":"dea-fails-to-set-cannabis-rescheduling-briefing-schedule-no-progress-made-on-interlocutory-appeal-the-dea-provided-its-chief-administrative-law-judge-a-90-day-joint-status-update-indicating-no-progr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thefreeworldremedy.com\/blog\/dea-fails-to-set-cannabis-rescheduling-briefing-schedule-no-progress-made-on-interlocutory-appeal-the-dea-provided-its-chief-administrative-law-judge-a-90-day-joint-status-update-indicating-no-progr\/","title":{"rendered":"DEA Fails to Set Cannabis Rescheduling Briefing Schedule; No Progress Made on Interlocutory Appeal. The DEA provided its chief administrative law judge a 90-day joint status update indicating no progress toward ending the appeal."},"content":{"rendered":"
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by\u00a0Tony Lange<\/a><\/div>\n
April 10, 2025<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Despite some cannabis industry hopefuls suggesting that a President Donald Trump administration could swoop in and save the day, zero progress has been made on the rescheduling process in the past 90 days.<\/p>\n

The Drug Enforcement Administration\u2019s (DEA) attorneys submitted a joint status report on April 10 to John J. Mulrooney, the agency\u2019s chief administrative law judge (ALJ) tasked with overseeing a fair and transparent hearing process for a proposed rule to reclassify cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act.<\/p>\n

The substance of the status update was limited to fewer than 100 words, with the DEA notifying Mulrooney that its acting administrator\u2014currently\u00a0Derek S. Maltz<\/a>\u2014has failed to set a briefing scheduling. While Trump\u00a0picked<\/a>\u00a0agency veteran Terry Cole to be the next DEA administrator on Feb. 11, the U.S. Senate has yet to confirm that nomination.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo date, movants\u2019 interlocutory appeal to the acting administrator regarding their motion to reconsider remains pending with the acting administrator,\u201d DEA attorneys wrote in the April 10 update. \u201cNo briefing schedule has been set.\u201d<\/p>\n

The briefing schedule is to allow the hearing\u2019s designated participants to file briefs with the DEA administrator in relation to an interlocutory appeal that Mulrooney\u00a0granted<\/a>\u00a0on Jan. 13.<\/p>\n

Mulrooney granted the rare appeal amid allegations that the DEA participated in\u00a0ex parte<\/i>\u00a0communications with anti-rescheduling participants\u2014communications that are prohibited under the Administrative Procedures Act (APA).<\/p>\n

More specifically, the judge denied a motion to reconsider the DEA\u2019s role as the proponent of the proposed rule filed by a subset of pro-rescheduling designated participants\u2014cannabis company Village Farms International, veterans group Hemp for Victory and the Connecticut Office of the Cannabis Ombudsman (OCO), collectively referred to as \u201cthe movants.\u201d<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s note: The DEA\u2019s April 10 joint filing was on behalf of itself and the movants, as requested by Mulrooney. Shane Pennington, partner at Blank Rome LLP, was included on the filing. He represents Village Farms and Hemp for Victory. OCO withdrew itself as a designated participant and is no longer involved as a movant.<\/i><\/p>\n

Although Mulrooney dismissed the movants\u2019 requested relief in early January to strip the DEA of its status in the hearing process, he took the matter seriously enough to grant the appeal and order a stay before the hearing\u2014initially\u00a0scheduled<\/a>\u00a0to run from Jan. 21 to March 6\u2014had begun, indefinitely delaying the process.<\/p>\n

In doing so, he ordered the DEA to work together with the movants to file a joint status update every 90 days while the process is stayed by the appeal.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs must have been anticipated by the movants, an interlocutory appeal returns jurisdiction of the matter to the full control of DEA agency leadership in all respects,\u201d Mulrooney wrote in the order.<\/p>\n

Once the briefing schedule is issued, the DEA\u2019s head\u2014whether that be Maltz or Cole\u2014can entertain oral arguments if he \u201cdesires\u201d and then issue a binding, written decision to Mulrooney on the appeal and if the hearing process should resume.<\/p>\n

Many developments have unfolded since Mulrooney issued his Jan. 13 order:<\/p>\n