:::::::USA Set to Reschedule Cannabis::::::: HHS Releases Recommendation Documents:::::::

[armedoldhippy]

going on the silly talk the state police will be watching with helicopters and checkpoints almost.

across VA line here, they did have LEO in unmarked cars watching med dispensaries for cars with TN tags. some of them (dispensary) were blatantly just slinging weed to anyone with money. they would sell high CBD stuff to out-of-staters (legal), then "trade" real pot to you for it at a different window.

 

[pipeline]

Federal Court Reaffirms That Ban On Gun Ownership For People Who Occasionally Use Marijuana Is ‘Unconstitutional’

A federal appeals court has reaffirmed that the ban on gun ownership by people who occasionally use marijuana is unconstitutional—once again reversing a cannabis-related conviction based on a prosecutorial “error” from the Biden administration in a case known as U.S. v. Daniels. In its latest...

www.marijuanamoment.net

New Evidence Shows DEA Opposes Marijuana Rescheduling And Should Be Removed From Hearings, Cannabis Groups Say

Attorneys for a cannabis company and advocacy group that are set to testify in the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) marijuana rescheduling hearing process beginning this month say new evidence has come to light revealing that the agency actually opposes the proposed rule it is supposed to...

www.marijuanamoment.net

Wisconsin Governor Wants To Let Voters Legalize Marijuana By Putting It On The Ballot, As GOP Legislature Blocks Reform

The governor of Wisconsin says residents of the state should be allowed to propose new laws by putting binding questions on the ballot—citing the fact that issues such as marijuana legalization enjoy sizable bipartisan support while the GOP-controlled legislature has repeatedly refused to act...

www.marijuanamoment.net

 

[pipeline]

DEA Judge Orders Agency To Respond To New Allegations It Opposes Marijuana Rescheduling And Improperly Conspired With Prohibitionists

A Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) judge has ordered the agency to respond to new allegations that it opposes the Biden administration’s marijuana rescheduling proposal it is supposed to be defending and that it had additional improper communications with opponents of the reform. Just one...

www.marijuanamoment.net

 

[Loriented]

WTF

https://mjbizdaily.com/biased-dea-kept-colorado-out-of-marijuana-rescheduling-hearings-filing-says/

 

[pipeline]

https://mjbizdaily.com/biased-dea-kept-colorado-out-of-marijuana-rescheduling-hearings-filing-says/​

​

Colorado shut out of marijuana rescheduling hearings by ‘biased’ DEA, filing alleges​

By Chris Roberts, Reporter
January 8, 2025 - Updated January 8, 202

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration rejected a September request from Colorado officials to participate in the United States’ historic marijuana rescheduling process.


That’s one example of the “bias” that should disqualify the agency from overseeing the hearings, according to claims made in a filing submitted Monday to the DEA’s chief administrative law judge, John Mulrooney II.



ADVERTISEMENT


The decision to exclude Colorado, where sales of adult-use marijuana began more than a decade ago, but include authorities from states without regulated cannabis such as Nebraska and Tennessee demonstrates why the agency should be removed from the proceedings, the filing claims.


Monday’s filing is the latest effort by designated participants Village Farms International and Hemp for Victory to disqualify the DEA, which has “obstructed the rulemaking process at every turn.”


The two companies are among the 25 parties selected by the DEA in October to participate in hearings before Mulrooney.

Bias and conflict of interest claimed at DEA​

Village Farms, with headquarters in Florida and British Columbia, and Hemp for Victory, based in Texas, claim to have found evidence of bias and “undisclosed conflicts of interest and extensive ex parte communications by DEA that must be disclosed and made part of the public record.”


According to the filing, the evidence includes:

• An “(u)ntimely, biased, and legally-improper” filing made by the DEA on Jan. 2 that “echoes anti-rescheduling talking points” such as “marijuana has a high abuse potential and no currently accepted medical use,” and denies other participants adequate time to review and respond, in violation of federal procedure.
• Concealment of “roughly 100 requests” to participate in the hearings that were rejected, including Colorado’s, and its “communication and coordination with at least one anti-rescheduling DP, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.”
• Reliance on the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America, a DEA “‘partner’ on matters related to fentanyl,” which is a “potential conflict of interest.”

The DEA’s Jan. 2 filing includes evidence and testimony that its two witnesses intend to introduce in future hearings, which are scheduled to resume Jan. 21 and extend into March.


The 66-page, undated and unsigned DEA document bears “an unmistakable resemblance to the positions the anti-rescheduling” witnesses have taken, according to Monday’s filing.


“This new evidence confirms that DEA has worked to stack the deck against the Proposed Rule by favoring anti-rescheduling parties in its selection of hearing participants and obstructing a balanced and thoughtful process based on science and evidence,” Monday’s filing noted.



ADVERTISEMENT

Colorado governor requested role in hearing​

Monday’s filing – written by attorney Shane Pennington, the witnesses’ counsel and a partner at Porter Wright’s Washington, D.C., office who specializes in administrative law, attempts to show in greater detail how the agency “disfavored pro-rescheduling parties, including DEA researchers, doctors, scientists, and the State of Colorado, which has competently regulated a medical marijuana program for over a decade.”


Colorado Gov. Jared Polis requested in a Sept. 30 letter to DEA Administrator Anne Milgram that the state be allowed to present “relevant, unique, and non-duplicative” data that shows “marijuana having medical utility and abuse potential far below opioids.”


In his letter – a copy was attached to Monday’s filing – Polis expressed a fear that any federal rescheduling decision made without considering Colorado’s position “will introduce significant risks” to state-regulated marijuana frameworks, including the ability to regulate sales as well as collect tax revenue.


But, according to Monday’s filing, Milgram “barred Colorado from presenting that data” by ignoring Polis’ letter and declining to extend the state an invitation.


Instead, the DEA mentioned Colorado 27 times in its Jan. 2 filing, part of an effort “to cast doubt on the success of the decade-old state-regulated program,” according to Monday’s claims.


“Yet DEA makes no attempt to engage with the positive evidence from Colorado and summarily rejected Colorado’s request to participate in this hearing,” the filing continued.


“And now, secure in the knowledge that the Administrator’s secret selection process has guaranteed that Colorado will not be able to respond or defend itself, DEA reveals its plan to smear the state’s successful regulatory program in these historic and very public proceedings.”


The DEA also allowed the state of Nebraska, which is attempting to thwart a medical marijuana ballot initiative approved by its voters in November, and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to participate in the proceedings.


Both states are opposed to rescheduling, according to their filings.

A ‘sham orchestrated by the DEA’​

These revelations show “these proceedings are a sham orchestrated by the DEA to stonewall cannabis from being transferred to a Schedule III designation,” Village Farms founder and CEO Michael DeGiglio said in a statement Monday.


As MJBizDaily has reported, both the initial roster – selected by Milgram – as well as further decisions by Mulrooney appear to tilt the list toward witnesses who oppose moving marijuana from Schedule 1 of the Controlled Substances Act to Schedule 3.


Mulrooney, who rejected a Nov. 18 motion by Village Farms and Hemp for Victory to remove the DEA from the rescheduling hearing based on agency employees’ communications with another anti-cannabis designated participant, has yet to respond to Monday’s filing.


The motion asked Mulrooney to delay the hearings until communications between the DEA and witnesses are released and, potentially, further action taken.


It also asks Mulrooney to compel the DEA to “to declare whether it supports or opposes” marijuana rescheduling.


“At a minimum, (Mulrooney) should postpone the upcoming hearing to allow for an investigation into DEA’s conduct, including its ex parte and undisclosed communications with anti-rescheduling organizations and other entities,” Monday’s filing adds.


Chris Roberts can be reached at [email protected].