Shadd Dales and Anthony Varrell returned for Tuesday’s Trade to Black, presented by Flowhub, with Day Two of the ALJ hearing underway in Arlington, Virginia. Eric Berlin from Dentons, one of the most respected cannabis attorneys in the country, walks us through how the arguments are being presented inside the hearing room. Michael Bronstein goes through the key moments from Day One, including the government witness’s admissions regarding data gaps and how opponents attempted to frame those gaps.
Eric Berlin, a cannabis attorney at Dentons with 33 years of legal experience and 18 years focused on cannabis reform, opened by addressing the exclusion of proponents from the hearing. Under DEA regulations, only parties adversely affected by a proposed rule are required to participate, and that supporters of rescheduling cannot by definition be aggrieved by it.
He described the DEA’s case as strong and grounded in the scientific record established by the HHS report, which spans 252 pages and cites thousands of supporting studies across two successive administrations. The conversation also reviewed several arguments raised by opponents, including concerns about the FDA having relied on older data sets, questions around diversion from state-licensed programs, the variability of cannabis products complicating a uniform scheduling determination, and the absence of pregnancy-specific analysis in the government’s review.
Michael Bronstein, President of the American Trade Association for Cannabis and Hemp, joined for a second consecutive day to walk through key moments from Day One, including the government witness’s admissions regarding data gaps and how opponents attempted to frame those gaps as grounds for discrediting the HHS report entirely.
Bronstein noted that the opponents’ core strategy appeared to be arguing that newer data not included in the original report should invalidate its conclusions — an argument he characterized as legally thin given that the report has now been accepted by two successive administrations and forms the foundational record on which the rescheduling decision rests.
Hear both interviews when you tune in.
