The Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) program regulating the legal federal production of cannabis for research purposes has been non-compliant with international drug laws for decades, according to an advisory from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC).

A recently released 2018 memo from the OLC advises the DEA to “change its current practices and the policy it announced in 2016 to comply with the Single Convention.”

The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, an international treaty on scheduled narcotics, requires signatory countries to impose stringent controls on the cultivation, manufacture, and distribution of narcotic drugs, including cannabis. One such control is that governments interested in cannabis research “establish ‘a single government agency’ to oversee marijuana growers and generally to monopolize the wholesale trade in the marijuana crop.” By licensing cultivation to the National Institution on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the National Center for Natural Products Research at the University of Mississippi, and by never taking sole ownership of the research cannabis produced at the National Center, the DEA is in violation of international law.

The main issue is that the Single Convention has never been strictly observed by the U.S. government. There’s no basis for an argument that legalization and regulation of cannabis would flout the treaty, because federal policy has not been in compliance in the first place, says Omar Figueroa, a cannabis attorney based in California.

“The monopoly granted to the University of Mississippi is not compliant and not required by international law.”

The OLC, which provides legal advice to the President and all executive branch agencies, wrote the memo on June 6, 2018, but it only was released to the public on April 29, 2020, as a result of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit brought forth by the Scottsdale Research Institute in March demanding documents that would help explain the slow rollout of the federal government's cannabis research program’s expansion.

While the memo does not explain why there have been no new licensed research groups since the DEA reopened its application process in 2016, it provides context to the draft rules that the DEA proposed in March.

In the March 23 notice of proposed rulemaking, the DEA noted that “DOJ advised DEA that it must adjust its policies and practices to ensure compliance with the CSA [Controlled Substances Act], including the CSA's requirement that registrations be consistent with the Single Convention.” Among the proposed rule changes, DEA suggested that “[all] registered manufacturers who cultivate cannabis shall deliver their total crops of cannabis to DEA … not later than four months after the end of the harvest.”

In this scenario, “[once] DEA has purchased and taken title to the crop, the material would be maintained, under seal, in DEA's possession in the manufacturer's schedule I vault until such time that a distribution is necessary. … DEA may distribute (or export) the marihuana directly or may choose to authorize the grower to distribute marihuana on the government's behalf.”

A potential solution for the DEA to become compliant with the Single Convention outlined in the OLC memo is the “DEA could station one or more employees at the National Center [and other federally licensed research labs] after cultivation as a way of ensuring physical possession of the marijuana and exclusive control over its distribution.” In its proposed rulemaking changes, DEA states that cannabis “owned by the government is maintained at the DEA-registered manufacturer's site where DEA would maintain its ability to access the storage location at which such crops are located as it deemed necessary.” (Note: emphasis added.)

In other words, the proposed rule change would grant DEA total access to federal research cannabis reserves as the agency would be the sole owner of said cannabis.

“I don’t like the idea that the DEA now has to take physical possession and acquire title to all cannabis that is lawfully grown [with a federal research license] in the United States,” Figueroa says. “That’s how they see their role.”

But not everyone is opposed to the idea of the DEA taking a larger, more physical presence in the cannabis research field. Albert Gutierrez, CEO of MedPharm, one of the federal research license applicants, said in a statement to CBT, “As a licensed bulk manufacturer we would take no issue with the DEA coming to our facility to take possession of the harvest as they've outlined in the proposed rules.”

Gutierrez adds, “We are encouraged by the progress from the DEA and feel this is a great opportunity to align the cannabis research program with international law. As one of the first applicants to apply for the Bulk Manufacturer license, we are eager to begin providing cannabis to researchers around the country."

Some recently laid-off workers in Illinois had been expecting a decision on their adult-use dispensary license application on May 1. Now, they’ll have to wait a while longer, since Illinois regulators announced April 29 the decision to delay awarding 75 licenses because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ambrose Jackson, CEO of social equity applicant Parkway Dispensary, said his team of 12—some of whom lost their jobs during the pandemic—are eager to start building their company. The state’s decision comes as Illinois adult-use cannabis sales have well exceeded $100 million since Jan. 1, when adult-use retailers who had already been operating as medical providers and are majority white, began selling to Illinois residents and out-of-state consumers.

“As a minority myself, we're used to getting the short end of the stick, so there is nothing that's surprising about what's going on,” Jackson said. “I think the unique thing is that there seems to be perhaps a little bit of an olive branch. And from taking that stance, I think it's important that you’re a local advocate for the things that are not going right and the things that you can see as still working against the better interest and may not actually even be fair at all.”

Through its social equity program, the state may eventually award up to 20% of individual dispensary license application points to eligible social equity applicants. And existing operators in the state have aided applicants; for instance, Cresco Labs offered resources to Parkway through its Social Equity & Educational Development program, which Jackson said was a “positive experience.”

Jackson said he feels state officials are offering some reconciliation for the disproportionate number of marijuana-related arrests and incarcerations in minority communities. At the same time, he hopes officials at the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, which will issue the licenses, looks at who those applicants are and makes sure they didn’t add someone to their team just to take advantage of extra points.

Additional steps in Chicago

Parkway plans to begin cannabis retail sales via a shop in Bronzeville, an African-American Chicago neighborhood with a high poverty rate.

“I think there's an opportunity for it to make a comeback, and it's kind of heading in that direction,” Jackson said. “We're looking to really kind of plant our seed, develop some roots here with this new budding industry.”

But there will be some additional steps for eventual licensees to begin operating in Chicago. Alderman David Moore, who represents the 17^th Ward southwest of Bronzeville, told CD that those licensees will have to abide by the city’s zoning structure.

As with state officials, Moore said his focus has been mainly on coronavirus-related measures. “At this point, I do not have dispensaries in the 17^th Ward, and unfortunately, due to everything that I'm dealing with and with my constituencies and making sure they have information and resources that they need, I haven't had the pulse on how the dispensaries are doing and what are the numbers and dollars.”

City council doesn’t want to rush anything, to ensure that larger companies can further help equity dispensaries, said Moore, who is a member of council’s 20-member Black Caucus.

"If we're not there to vet that process and we let things go through, then a lot of these minority participants who are looking to get a license as well may be short-changed in the process,” Moore said.

Jason Ervin, 28^th Ward alderman and chairman of the Black Caucus, said he is disappointed that licenses weren’t awarded to social equity applicants and that other businesses had a “head start” on adult-use cannabis sales.

There are about seven dispensary retail location spots remaining in the city’s zoning structure.

When asked if those spots could open, he said, "I'm sure that there is the ability for it to increase with council approval, but we have not crossed that bridge yet where we even see the number of licenses even needing [to be increased], just based on our calculations. So, we just, A, have to see who gets awarded and, B, where they want to locate."

More plans for Parkway and a Marijuana Hall of Fame

The delay in dispensary licensing has been one obstacle in a much larger course for Jackson and his team. In addition to its dispensary plans, Jackson shared with Cannabis Dispensary April 30 that he had been awake for about 30 hours finalizing a craft grow and transportation application that he planned to turn in that day.

“We've had a very strong team of individuals who can really contribute when it comes to the cannabis knowledge side of things, and everyone's very motivated,” Jackson said. “But we’re doing all the work ourselves and we're not paying $150,000 for a consulting firm to write our application, so it takes work.”

The state twice delayed the application period for cannabis infuser, craft grower and transportation licenses, first from March 16 to March 30, then to April 30.

“You can look at it different ways in terms of whether it's a good thing or bad thing or who really benefits from the timeline being pushed back [for example, if] more people are jumping in with money now, just to get an application in or what have you,” Jackson said. “But, again, we've got a lot of advantages at this point that we've been able to create.”

His team has acquired a roughly 50,000-square-foot facility in Broadview, a village about 12 miles west of Chicago, where it plans to cultivate cannabis under about 5,000 square feet of canopy to start, then expand.

The craft grow application is under the name Helios Craft Grow Cultivation, said chief marketing officer Vincent E. Norment. The team plans to eventually cultivate under 14,000 square feet of canopy as Powerhouse THC, infuse edibles as Edibliss Collection and transport product as Highwaymen Security, according to a document Norment provided CD.

Other planned operations, according to the document, include Parkway Collective, which would help residents of disadvantaged communities apply for crowdfunding for cannabis businesses, and Midwest Cannabis Exchange, a marketplace for the purchase and sale of wholesale cannabis and hemp.

Photo courtesy of Vincent Norment

Norment is also the founder and CEO of the Marijuana Hall of Fame, which he established in 2018 and said will eventually be a brick-and-mortar location in Las Vegas, with artifacts and induction of major figures in cannabis, similar to the model of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. The first induction ceremony is planned for December.

Norment said he has acquired one of B.B. King’s “Lucille” Gibson guitars (“B.B. King—obviously, he was a smoker,” he said, laughing), a signed football helmet from Ricky Williams and signed merchandise from Cheech & Chong. Tommy Chong will be on the hall’s board.

“My job as the founder of the Marijuana Hall of Fame is to make sure that the community is able to participate, the culture's able to participate and the whole construction of inducting people every year, and also building up the cannabis community on the cultural side but also the business side—the corporations—being able to bring of them together because sometimes, there's division between the two,” he said.

With Parkway Dispensary, the team is considering doing promotions involving Marijuana Hall of Fame participants and releasing a Marijuana Hall of Fame strain, Norment said.

But first, they need to acquire a dispensary license. Jackson, who currently works as a health-care administrator, said he plans to put all his effort into his cannabis business—not if, but once he’s awarded licenses.

“I have to keep going, man, keep trying,” he said.