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DEA Responds To Reclassification Report

June 21, 2016

A DEA official responded at length today to a widely-circulated report that the DEA plans to effectively legalize medical cannabis this August.

In an interview with aNewDomain today, DEA staff coordinator Russ Bear wouldn’t confirm the Santa Monica Observer report that the DEA will reschedule cannabis as a prescription-only Schedule II drug on Aug. 1, 2016. But he did comment at length about the agency’s thoughts around legalizing medical cannabis and how rescheduling cannabis from its current Schedule I status would have to work.

Bear, in his comments, went well beyond the prepared statement the agency gave to the The Houston Chronicle and other media covering the story earlier today. Check out his comments and our takeaway below.

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