The Justice Department is asking a federal court to dismiss a lawsuit from a group of doctors who are challenging their exclusion from marijuana rescheduling hearings, with the government arguing that it would be against the “public interest” to “derail” the process by litigating witness selection.

Doctors for Drug Policy Reform (D4DPR) recently challenged the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) rejection of their request to testify, making the case that the exclusion would cause irreparable harm to its membership as the agency proceeded with a proposal to move cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).

On Friday, the Justice Department submitted a brief opposing the organization’s motion in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Circuit. It said D4DPR identified “no error” from DEA in its initial selection of 25 witnesses to join the administrative hearings on rescheduling out of the 163 individuals and entities that requested the opportunity.

If all 163 prospective requesters were granted that request, it “could easily become an unwieldy hearing lasting months—if not years” before the proposed rule is potentially finalized,” it said.

“Nor do petitioners identify any injury that could not be cured on judicial review of

Read full article on Marijuana Moment

Poll: Legalization support in WI; German legal marijuana sales pilot rules; Ukraine medical cannabis; Study: Cannabis suppositories for better sex

Subscribe to receive Marijuana Moment’s newsletter in your inbox every weekday morning. It’s the best way to make sure you know which cannabis stories are shaping the day.

Your support makes Marijuana Moment possible…

*Rattling the tip jar* Got a few dollars you can spare to help Marijuana Moment pay our writers, keep our website running and grow into the kind of robust news organization the fast-paced world of drug policy deserves?

Join us for $25/month and be a part of our work: https://www.patreon.com/marijuanamoment

/ TOP THINGS TO KNOW

Marijuana reform advocates are pushing President Joe Biden to expand on large grants of clemency he issued on Thursday by freeing people who are still incarcerated for cannabis offenses—and a new poll shows that 59 percent of Americans support additional marijuana and drug pardons.

A new poll shows that 65 percent of voters in rural Wisconsin support legalizing marijuana as Gov. Tony Evers (D) says the issue is a top priority for the 2025 legislative session.

Germany’s federal minister for food and agriculture

Read full article on Marijuana Moment

Two Pennsylvania lawmakers have announced plans to file a new bill to legalize marijuana in the commonwealth to fulfill a “moral obligation” to repair harms of criminalization while also raising revenue.

With the state’s Democratic caucus emboldened after retaining the House in last month’s elections—and Majority Leader Matt Bradford (D) saying there’s a “will” in the chamber to “move forward” with cannabis reform—Reps. Rick Krajewski (D) and Rep. Dan Frankel (D) are now circulating a cosponsorship memo to build support for the forthcoming legislation.

“As a state that continues to criminalize recreational cannabis, Pennsylvania is now an outlier—24 states have legalized the practice, including 5 of the 6 states that border Pennsylvania,” the legislators, who led a series of hearings on cannabis reform over the past year, said.

“But legal or not, Pennsylvanians are consuming marijuana, whether by visiting our bordering states, buying unregulated hemp loophole products at gas stations and vape shops, or purchasing in the illicit market,” they said.

Notably, the memo doesn’t mention the prospect of a state-run cannabis market, which Frankel, who chairs the Health Committee, had previously floated as a possibility. Last year he said that the model is “certainly an option.”

“We have a

Read full article on Marijuana Moment