21 US Lawmakers Express Frustration With DEA’s Inaction on Cannabis Rescheduling

Patience is running thin for 21 U.S. lawmakers in Washington who sent a letter April 24 urging the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to “make good on the President’s commitments” to reschedule cannabis.

The letter—spearheaded by Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and John Fetterman, D-Pa., and Reps. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., and Barbara Lee, D-Calif.—was sent to DEA Administrator Anne Milgram and Attorney General Merrick Garland.

The lawmakers pointed out that 18 months have passed since President Joe Biden directed the Health and Human Services Department (HHS) in October 2022 to conduct an administrative process to review how cannabis is scheduled under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), as well as the eight months that have passed since the HHS officially recommended to the DEA in August 2023 that cannabis be reclassified as a Schedule III drug.

“It’s time for the Drug Enforcement Administration to act,” the lawmakers wrote. “Although some at the DEA have indicated that the agency’s review of an HHS scheduling recommendation often takes up to six months, almost eight months have now passed since the DEA received HHS’s recommendation. While we understand that the DEA may be navigating internal disagreement on this matter, it is critical that the agency swiftly correct marijuana’s misguided placement in Schedule I.”

The letter was also signed by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., Alex Padilla, D-Calif., Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., Peter Welch, D-Vt., Ron Wyden, D-Ore., John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Reps. Dina Titus, D-Nev., Becca Balint. D-Vt., Robert Garcia. D-Calif., Val Hoyle, D-Ore., Jim McGovern, D-Mass., Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., Katie Porter. D-Calif., and Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill.

The letter referenced a March 9 article by the Wall Street Journal that indicated DEA officials were “at odds” (the “internal disagreement”) over the Biden administration’s rescheduling position. DEA officials are concerned that cannabis’ medicinal benefits “remain unproven” and that today’s products are much more potent than what legacy growers produced decades ago, according to the news outlet.

Biden has repeatedly played up his cannabis reform polices during his 2024 reelection campaign, policies that include the belief that no one should be jailed for consuming or possessing cannabis and that those with nonviolent cannabis-related convictions should have their records expunged. Last month, Biden was the first president to specifically mention “marijuana” during a State of the Union speech since Ronald Reagan called for continuing the drug war during his 1988 address.

Regardless of any internal disagreements at the DEA, the 21 lawmakers urged Milgram and Garland to have the agency’s officials work “as quickly as possible toward a decision” on the rescheduling review.

“The longer marijuana remains scheduled in the CSA, the longer our communities face senselessly severe penalties and the longer the marijuana laws of the majority of U.S. states remain in conflict with federal law,” they wrote. “Right now, the administration has the opportunity to resolve more than 50 years of failed, racially discriminatory marijuana policy.”

The letter comes at a time when 24 states and Washington, D.C., have legalized adult-use cannabis—with 20 of those having launched commercial retail markets—and 38 states legalizing medical cannabis without highly restricting product choices or potency amounts for patients.

While Warren, Fetterman and 10 of their Democratic colleagues in the upper chamber previously penned a letter to Milgram and Garland in January—asking six questions to seek clarity about the DEA’s review process—not only did the DEA miss a February deadline to respond to the senators, but the response that did come in April stated already known facts about the rescheduling process.

“DEA’s response did not answer the senators’ questions and simply noted that, currently, the agency is ‘carefully following’ the procedures for taking scheduling actions ‘as it conducts an administrative review of the scheduling of marijuana,’” according to a press release issued by Warren’s office on April 25.

In addition to the 21 lawmakers urging for swift action on the rescheduling process in their letter this week, they also pointed to the HHS recommendation’s finding that the plant is associated with fewer adverse outcomes than alcohol, which isn’t scheduled under the CSA.

“This [Schedule I] placement [of cannabis] produces a cascade of severe penalties for marijuana users and businesses, including for criminal records, immigration statuses, employment, taxation, health care, public housing, social services, and more,” the senators wrote. “As explained in our prior letters, while a move to Schedule III would be a meaningful improvement, the only way to remedy the most concerning consequences of marijuana prohibition is to deschedule marijuana altogether.