The federal cannabis rescheduling case is staying shut — but it is not standing still.
On October 22, DEA Chief Administrative Law Judge Derek C. Julius ruled on the fight that has held the case up since last month: the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report from September 23, and written legal arguments about it, will enter the administrative record. What he would not do is reopen the hearing for new testimony or evidence.
That is a loss for the three anti-rescheduling parties pushing to relitigate the case — DUID Victim Voices, Dr. Kenneth Finn, and the National Drug and Alcohol Screening Association (NDASA). They asked for five rounds of new documents and testimony, including the identities of everyone behind the federal government’s two-part test for whether cannabis has currently accepted medical use. Julius called the first requests “immaterial,” said the middle ones could have been explored during cross-examination this summer, and ruled the last one — materials the GAO reviewed — was not before the tribunal at all. “The GAO is not a party to this litigation,” he wrote, “and the GAO report speaks for itself.”
What happens next
The DEA and the seven anti-rescheduling parties from the 11-day hearing that concluded July 15 must file optional briefs by October 29, narrowly tailored to one question: how much weight, if any, should the tribunal give the GAO report — and are the “gaps” it found in the DEA’s written scheduling policies substantial enough to jeopardize the rescheduling proposal itself? Reply briefs are due November 5, and the judge said any further briefing beyond that is “disfavored.”
After that, Julius still must certify the record and send his nonbinding scheduling recommendation to DEA Administrator Terry Cole.
Why the GAO report is not the story its critics want
The GAO report found “gaps” in the DEA’s written scheduling policies — missing roles, responsibilities, and procedures. It did not find gaps in the actual rescheduling analysis. The DEA itself has argued the report is “immaterial to the actual scientific processes and analysis” behind scheduling. And the science in this case is already on the record: the FDA’s 10-month 2023 evaluation found cannabis has currently accepted medical use in the United States and best fits in Schedule III.
While Washington stalls, Kentucky keeps arresting
Here is the part that matters at home: no federal rescheduling decision, whenever it comes, decriminalizes anything in Kentucky on its own. In 2025, Kentucky still made 2,718 cannabis arrests — 80% for simple possession. Kentuckians do not need to wait for a DEA administrator to stop that. The General Assembly can put decriminalization on the ballot now: adults 21 and older, up to one ounce, and cultivate, harvest, and store up to five plants for personal use.
Take action
Sign the petition — 10,400+ verified signatures and counting: https://change.org/LetKentuckyVote
Call the Kentucky legislative message hotline at 1-800-372-7181 and tell your state senator and representative: put cannabis decriminalization on the ballot.
Source: Cannabis Business Times, October 22, 2026; Marijuana Policy Project / FBI Crime Explorer arrest data (2025).
#LegalizeKentucky #LetKentuckyVote #CannabisReform #Rescheduling #KYGA #KCFC
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