The public now has access to more than 2,500 pages of transcripts from the Drug Enforcement Administration’s cannabis rescheduling hearing that concluded on July 15 in Arlington, Va.
Derek C. Julius, the DEA’s chief administrative law judge, released the fully corrected transcripts from each day of the 11-day hearing on Aug. 25, as he now prepares to make a final recommendation to DEA Administrator Terry Cole.
The hearing provided the DEA – as the proponent of a proposed rule to loosen restrictions on cannabis by reclassifying the plant from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) – and seven anti-rescheduling parties to debate the merits of the proposal.
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Here are the transcripts for each day’s proceedings:
- Transcript Day 1
- Transcript Day 2
- Transcript Day 3
- Transcript Day 4
- Transcript Day 5
- Transcript Day 6
- Transcript Day 7
- Transcript Day 8
- Transcript Day 9
- Transcript Day 10
- Transcript Day 11
Here’s who testified on behalf of the eight designated participants, including the DEA and the seven opposed parties:
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)
- Dr. Dominic Chiapperino, Ph.D., the director of controlled substance staff for the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Drug Evaluation and Research
- Dr. Corey Burchman, M.D., a licensed medical doctor in New Hampshire who practiced as a board-certified anesthesiologist and pain management physician
National Drug and Alcohol Screening Association (NDASA)
- Mary Jo McGuire, the executive director at NDASA
- Patrice Kelly, formerly of the U.S. Department of Transportation
Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI)
- Erica Stephens, the assistant special agent in charge of TBI’s Dangerous Drugs Task Force
Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM)
- Dr. Bertha Madras, a Harvard psychobiologist and former ONDCP official
- Dr. Luli Akinfiresoye, a DEA Drug and Chemical Evaluation Section pharmacologist
The states of Idaho, Indiana and Nebraska (“the states”)
- Dr. Deepak D’Souza, a Yale Medicine psychiatry professor
- Sheriff William Honsal, of Humboldt County, Calif.
Driving Under the Influence of Drugs Victim Voices (DUID)
- Edward Wood, DUID’s founder
Dr. Kenneth Finn, M.D.
- Dr. Kenneth Finn, a pain management physician in Arizona
- Laura Stack, the mother of a 19-year-old, Johnny, who died by suicide
Dr. Phillip A. Drum, Pharm.D.
- Dr. Phillip A. Drum, a California pharmacist
- Dr. Karen Randall, a Colorado-based emergency medicine physician
With the finalized transcripts now released, Julius is tasked with making a nonbinding recommendation to the DEA – whether to keep cannabis listed in Schedule I or move it to Schedule II or III under the C
Under the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), the designated parties will then have 20 days to file exceptions to the recommended decision, findings of fact and conclusions of law.
“The party shall include a statement of supporting reasons for such exceptions, together with evidence of record (including specific and complete citations of the pages of the transcript and exhibits) and citations of the authorities relied upon,” according to the CFR.
The judge will then deliver his recommendation and the administrative record to the DEA administrator, Cole, whose rescheduling action (or inaction) would likely become subject to judicial review should a losing party file an appeal.
