DEA tells the rescheduling judge that marijuana no longer belongs in Schedule I

As of August 20, 2026. The Drug Enforcement Administration filed its post-hearing brief on the August 17 deadline and asked Chief Administrative Law Judge Derek Julius to recommend moving marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III. The filings became public over the two days that followed.

DEA wrote that marijuana “no longer fits the statutory requirements for Schedule I because it has a currently accepted medical use within the United States and it has an accepted safety for its use under medical supervision.” On placement, the agency argued that marijuana “most appropriately belongs in Schedule III because its abuse potential and dependency profile most align with those substances in Schedule III.” The brief put the current medical footprint at “over 30,000 practitioners treating more than six million patients,” and told the judge that “the vast majority of individuals who use marijuana do so in a manner that does not result in dangers to themselves or to their communities.”

The agency that would write the final rule is the agency arguing for the change. The briefs opposing it came from outside parties.

Who filed against

Six opponents filed, per Marijuana Moment, which obtained the briefs:

• Smart Approaches to Marijuana, joined by the states of Idaho, Indiana, and Nebraska
• The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation
• The National Drug and Alcohol Screening Association
• DUID Victim Voices
• Kenneth Finn
• Phillip Drum

Smart Approaches and the three states argued that “the Government now proposes to reschedule marijuana not based on the facts, but rather based on new and different standards.” The screening association took a narrower line, warning that “if the transfer of marijuana to Schedule III is finalized, the authority of the Federal government to test for it will end.”

No party’s brief mentions US territories. The Virgin Islands is not a participant in the proceeding.

What happens next

The hearing ran from June 29 to July 15 in Arlington, Virginia, and the briefs complete the record. Julius now prepares a recommended decision “as soon as practicable,” a phrase that carries no date. Once the decision is served, parties have 20 days to file exceptions to the findings. The judge certifies the record to DEA Administrator Terrance Cole no sooner than 25 days after service. The Administrator then issues a final order in the Federal Register, and that step has no deadline at all.

The open-ended steps sit at the start and the end. The middle is measurable: roughly 25 days between the recommendation landing and the record reaching the Administrator’s desk.

What the territory has riding on it

The April 22 order signed by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche moved FDA-approved marijuana products and marijuana under a qualifying state-issued medical license into Schedule III. It did not cover adult use. The order and how it applies to territorial licenses are covered in the April rescheduling piece.

Adult use is the larger share of what the Virgin Islands Cannabis Use Act legalized, and it is what the ten conditional dispensaries on St. Thomas, St. John, and St. Croix are preparing to sell. Once they open, any adult 21 and over will be able to buy without a card. Under federal law that remains a Schedule I transaction, and this is the proceeding that could change it.

The local timeline does not move either way. Cultivation is waiting on facility sign-off. Sales are waiting on the St. Croix testing laboratory, which stakeholders have told the Office of Cannabis Regulation could be ready by October. Neither depends on a federal schedule.

What to watch

The next document is the judge’s recommended decision, and it has no due date. When it is served, the 20-day exceptions window opens and the case can be read on a calendar for the first time since the hearing closed July 15. Until then the record sits with Julius.