The Department of Justice is urging a federal court to reject marijuana opponents’ request to pause the Trump administration’s cannabis rescheduling proposal from moving forward amid overall litigation challenging the reform.
The government brief argues that the drug testing industry association and pharmaceutical company seeking to block rescheduling have “pocketbook interests served by keeping all marijuana in schedule I.”
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia is currently weighing three separate lawsuits against moving cannabis from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) to Schedule III that have since been consolidated.
One suit is led by prohibitionist organization Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) and the National Drug and Alcohol Screening Association (NDASA), who claim they are “aggrieved” by the reform. Another comes from a coalition of anti-marijuana activists, substance misuse professionals, doctors and a cannabis-focused biopharmaceutical corporation. A third challenge was filed by the attorneys general of Indiana, Nebraska and Louisiana—though the later state later withdrew from the suit.
Two of the entities involved in the litigation—NDASA and cannabis-focused biopharmaceutical corporation MMJ International Holdings—filed a separate motion asking the court to place a stay on rescheduling while the broader challenge is considered.
DOJ on Thursday issued a
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