By Tom Angell

 

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced in April that it hoped to make a decision on whether or not to reclassify marijuana under federal law “in the first half of 2016.”

The clock is ticking: Thursday marks the last day of the sixth month of the year, but DEA still hasn’t announced if it will move cannabis out of its current status as a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act.

Now, a bipartisan group of Congressional lawmakers is pressing DEA to hurry up and make up its mind already.

“We request that you take immediate action to remove ‘cannabis’ and ‘tetrahydrocannabinols’ from Schedule I,” the lawmakers, led by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), wrote on Thursday to DEA Acting Administrator Chuck Rosenberg.

The legislators also want DEA to remove barriers to medical cannabis research by licensing more producers of the drug. Since 1968, the only legal source of cannabis for studies in the U.S. has been University of Mississippi, which operates under a license from the federal government. Scientists have complained that it is difficult to obtain marijuana from the facility and that even when their applications are granted, the product is often of poor quality.

DEA has long held the position that international drug control treaties to which the U.S. is a party prevent the federal government from granting more cultivation licenses. But in a letter that Gillibrand’s office release last month, the U.S. State Department said DEA is wrong about that.

Now, members of Congress are asking Rosenberg to change his agency’s position.

“We ask that you clarify this policy immediately, and issue a public statement informing the research community that the DEA, in compliance with international obligations, will accept new applications to bulk manufacture cannabis for medical and scientific purposes, to be approved on merit-based criteria,” the lawmakers wrote.

Joining Gillibrand in signing the new letter are Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ), Jeff Merkley (D- OR) and Barbara Boxer (D-CA), along with Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), Jared Polis (D-CO) and Ted Lieu (D-CA).

“We look forward to your immediate action to remove these two administrative barriers to research,” they wrote. “If you are not prepared to take action at this time, we request a personal meeting with you to discuss your reasons for not doing so.”

As Marijuana.com first reported last year, DEA has already received a recommendation from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) about whether to move marijuana out of its current status as a Schedule I substance, though it is unknown what that recommendation entails or when DEA will announce its own ruling.