The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has begun to publicly share details about its long-anticipated hearings on cannabis rescheduling.
The agency announced last week that Dec. 2 will mark the beginning of its “formal hearing proceedings” on the U.S. Department of Justice’s proposal to move cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act.
A “preliminary hearing” is expected “to address legal and logistical issues and discuss future dates for the evidentiary hearing on the merits. No witness testimony will be offered or received at this time.”
The hearing began today at 9am and will continue until 5pm at the DEA’s headquarters in Virginia, and a live stream is available.
Nearly two dozen entities requested to participate in the hearing process, but a DEA administrative law judge determined last week that only a dozen had “established standing” to do so.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has scheduled a Dec. 2 public meeting on a proposal to lower cannabis to a less dangerous Schedule III classification under U.S. law.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has scheduled a Dec. 2 hearing on its proposal to lower the classification of marijuana to the less dangerous level of Schedule III, according to a public announcement late Monday.
The DEA had never issued any timeline for its process to potentially change the Schedule I classification of cannabis for the first time since the Controlled Substances Act went into effect in 1970. Still, some in the cannabis industry had hoped for a final decision before the U.S. election.
The DEA had already received 43,000 comments on its proposal, initially made on May 21, with a comment period that closed late in July. The DEA said the comments included requests to hold a public hearing.
DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said she would determine who will participate in the hearing and name a presiding officer to run the meeting, which will take place on Dec. 2 at 9 a.m. Eastern Time at 700 Navy Drive, Arlington, Virginia.
The government said the meeting may also be moved to a different location, continued from day to day, or recessed to a later date without notice.
In an expected move yesterday, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) says that two cannabinoids with a growing market presence do not meet the federal definition of legal hemp and are therefore considered illegal controlled substances.
Attorney Rod Kight inquired about the legal status of delta-8 THC-O and delta-9 THC-O with the federal agency last year and followed up earlier this month.
DEA sent a response letter on Monday, saying the two cannabinoids “do not occur naturally in the cannabis plant and can only be obtained synthetically, and therefore do not fall under the definition of hemp,” according to Marijuana Moment.
“Delta-9-THCO and delta-8-THCO are tetrahydrocannabinols having similar chemical structures and pharmacological activities to those contained in the cannabis plant,” the letter from Terrence L. Boos, chief of DEA’s Drug & Chemical Evaluation Section, continued.
Kight responded to DEA’s letter in a blog post on Monday, writing that “although I do not always agree with the DEA’s view on cannabis matters, I agree with this opinion and, frankly, am not surprised. This is what I have been saying for a while.”
“I have been concerned about the proliferation of THC acetate ester (THCO) for a while. It has always been my view that THCO is a controlled substance under federal law,” he said. “Although it can be made from cannabinoids from hemp, THCO is not naturally expressed by the hemp plant. It is a laboratory creation that does not occur in nature, at least not from the hemp plant.”
In Nevada, Delta-8 THC is illegal. During the cannabis culture and accessories trade show, CHAMPS, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) allegedly raided the show because a vendor participating in the event unwittingly gave the Las Vegas district attorney an unauthorized Delta-8 THC product sample. Several social media posts by vendors at the show said they were detained and products were confiscated.
Credit: CHAMPS
Providing samples to the show’s attendees is against the rules. As a result, some vendors were asked to vacate the premises. CHAMPS vendors received notice last week that samples of Delta-8, Delta-10 THC and similar products were illegal in Nevada and vendors should refrain from offering samples.
Several social media posts began to report of the feds raiding the venue started cropping up late Wednesday evening. By Thursday, various vendors began posting that the officers ordered the attendees to wait outside while they inspected the scene, according to CannaTech Today. As a result of yesterday’s occurrence, plainclothes police officers are walking the show floor today while its vendor booths are currently being searched for any Delta-8 THC and similarly prohibited products.
Through the last year, several states, including states where Delta-9 THC is legal, such as Oregon, California and Arizona, passed laws specifically banning Delta-8 THC. Nevada went a step further in early July to specifically include Delta-8 in its definition of cannabis. The Nevada Cannabis Compliance Board recently stated, “products exceeding 0.3 percent THC, including Delta-8 and Delta-9 THC, would be considered cannabis. As such, a license from the Cannabis Compliance Board would be required to make it or sell it.”
The Champs trade show is one of the largest cannabis industry trade shows in the U.S. The 2021 sow is being held from Jul 27 to Sat, July 31 at the Las Vegas Convection Center. Smoke shops, vape shops, dispensaries, 420 counter-culture, adult novelty shops, C-Stores, online marketers and branders, entrepreneurs, glassblowers, and counter-culture industry professionals who are seeking to grow in their market sectors and gain current knowledge and product opportunities to better leverage their business in a thriving marketplace attend CHAMPS, according to the show’s website.
