DEA Marijuana Rescheduling Likely By Next Year, Says Former FDA Official

A former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) official says he’d be "shocked" if the DEA does not reschedule cannabis by next year's presidential election, and that he expects the DEA will ultimately accept the recent Health and Human Services’ recommendation to ease restrictions on cannabis by reclassifying it as a Schedule III drug under the Controlled Substances Act.

“I would be really shocked if it took the DEA longer than the second quarter of next year to come up with its final rule,” said Howard Sklamberg, former FDA deputy commissioner for global regulatory operations and compliance. “Even when I was at FDA, we knew that important regulations that you wanted to get done in an election year, you want to get done by the summer before,” reported Marijuana Moment. 

What Is The President Waiting For?

Many political observers, and probably millions of voters, wonder what is going through President Biden’s head as the vast majority of the country shows support for marijuana legalization, Sklamberg also sounded dismayed.

After Ohio's historic decision on Tuesday to legalize recreational cannabis, more than half of the country now resides in a legal weed state, having gone from 49.2% of the population to 52.7%, and up to 80% if medical marijuana states are added in. And then there's a Gallup poll that came out this week, which showed that seven in 10 Americans of all political, racial, gender and demographic stripes now think marijuana use should be legal. Yet, President Biden's spokesperson said on Wednesday after Ohio's vote that “The president put out his stance on marijuana about a year and a half ago. Nothing has changed there.”

Read more about Howard Sklamberg at Marijuana Moment