Marijuana rescheduling appeal: DEA stalls while a presidential order pounds on the door

The marijuana rescheduling appeal is stuck in that familiar D.C. purgatory—somewhere between a promise and a shrug. The Drug Enforcement Administration says the interlocutory challenge over how it handled the cannabis review still “remains pending,” even after a presidential executive order told the attorney general to finish the job and move marijuana to Schedule III with all due haste. No briefing schedule. No timeline. Just a formal reminder that in Washington, urgency is a mood, not a mandate. It’s been nearly a year since an administrative law judge accepted the appeal. Since then, the clock’s been chewing through months while the case file gathers dust and the stakes climb for an industry boxed in by federal rules older than disco.

This isn’t just a paperwork quarrel. The appeal alleges agency bias and off-the-record communications with anti-rescheduling players during the review—a procedural grease fire with a smell that lingers. The new administrator, Terrance Cole, told senators during his confirmation that reviewing rescheduling would be “one of my first priorities.” Yet here we are, pacing the linoleum, listening to the fluorescent lights buzz. Meanwhile, Attorney General Pam Bondi has marching orders from the Oval Office to finalize a rule that would shift cannabis to Schedule III. If and when that lands, it won’t “legalize” marijuana. But it would change the terrain in ways that matter to operators, patients, and researchers who have been sprinting with weights on their ankles.

• Formal recognition of medical value under federal law
• Relief from IRS 280E, allowing normal business deductions
• Fewer barriers to clinical research and drug development

Of course, policy never moves alone. Lawsuits circle like gulls over a boardwalk fryer. A prominent prohibitionist group has already retained former Attorney General Bill Barr to sue the moment rescheduling is finalized, and a bloc of Republican attorneys general say marijuana belongs right where it is in Schedule I. Capitol Hill letters flew, too—last-ditch pleas to keep the brakes on. The president waved them off, citing public support and the people he knows who’ve found real relief. Politics, though, has its own gravity. Money is part of the weather: see Marijuana Industry Political Committee Gave Another $1.05 Million To Trump’s Super PAC Ahead Of Rescheduling Order, FEC Filings Show. And the courts remain an unpredictable frontier, with a major Second Amendment test looming in U.S. Supreme Court Schedules Hearing In Case On Marijuana Consumers’ Gun Rights—a reminder that cannabis policy is stitched into almost every thread of American law.

Here’s the twist: even as the marijuana rescheduling appeal idles, DEA is stepping on the gas in other lanes. The agency just finalized its 2026 production quotas for certain controlled substances, further boosting legal output for psychedelics like psilocybin and DMT to support research. If you’re tracking the science beat and the federal posture on emerging therapies, dig into DEA Boosts Legal Production Levels For Psychedelics Like Psilocybin And DMT In Final Rule For 2026. That’s the contradictory rhythm of federal drug policy right now: a cautious shuffle on cannabis reform, a measured sprint on psychedelics research, and a bureaucratic waltz that leaves everyone counting beats in the dark. For the process junkies, the DEA’s latest filing sits below—dry on the surface, but every line tells you where the pressure points are and how the game is being played.

So where does this all lead? If cannabis lands in Schedule III, the industry gets oxygen—280E tax relief, easier access to capital, a clearer runway for clinical trials. Patients get fewer barriers, doctors get better data, and regulators get a cleaner dashboard. But it won’t flick a switch to full federal legality, and it won’t untangle the patchwork of state rules overnight. Those fights are still moving in parallel, from workplace policies to criminal justice reforms to possession caps. Watch statehouses like Massachusetts, where a reform package to modernize enforcement and double limits is advancing: Massachusetts Bill To Double Marijuana Possession Limit And Revise Regulatory Framework Heads To Conference Committee. Until then, we wait—eyes on the docket, ears to the ground, one hand on the bar rail. If you’re ready to explore compliant, high-quality options while the feds sort themselves out, step into our shop here: https://thcaorder.com/shop/.