ALJ Hearing Is Officially Over
In the latest Trade To Black podcast, presented by Flowhub, hosts Shadd Dales and Anthony Varrell break down the final day of the DEA’s administrative law judge hearing — a day that wrapped up surprisingly early at 12 PM Eastern and without any last-minute fireworks — with Washington correspondent Gretchen Gailey reporting from inside the courtroom and attorney John Malone joining for the Vantage Standard segment. With the record now closed, all attention shifts to the ALJ’s recommendation.
Now that the hearing is over, Gailey walked through the states’ testimony, delivered as a unified block from Nebraska, Idaho and Indiana, which brought two witnesses to reinforce their opposition to rescheduling. The first was Dr. Deepak D’Souza, a VA psychiatrist and Yale School of Medicine professor who directs the Yale Center for the Science of Cannabis and Cannabinoids. He kept his focus on the psychiatric side, arguing that the existing studies are too limited in scope and rigor to establish medical use, and that cannabis carries a heightened schizophrenia risk for those genetically predisposed. Dales and Varrell pushed back on the framing, drawing a parallel to alcohol and predisposition, and argued that a small subset shouldn’t disqualify rescheduling. The second witness, Sheriff William Honsal of Humboldt County, challenged the idea that legalization is the fastest way to eliminate the illicit market, citing California’s Emerald Triangle and Oklahoma. Varrell countered that these are failures of inconsistent federal guidelines rather than arguments against rescheduling — if anything, a case for full descheduling.
Gailey said the judge remained engaged and kept the proceedings narrowly focused on whether cannabis meets the Schedule III criteria, disallowing tangents on environmental impact. Her read: the prohibitionists, including SAM, did not make their case. On timelines, closing arguments will be submitted in writing on a schedule the judge has yet to set, and she is betting on October rather than the month-end some have floated — a view reinforced by a built-in 25-day minimum before any recommendation can issue.
In segment two, Malone framed the ALJ’s role as a neutral finder of fact building a defensible record for the likely appeals and court challenges to follow. He argued Schedule One is indefensible given accepted medical uses, that whole-plant botanical cannabis doesn’t fit neatly into Schedule Three or the FDA framework, and that HHS’s foundational recommendation carries significant weight. He and the hosts explored where pharmaceutical companies fit — largely in isolated compounds and extracts rather than the state-regulated market — and flagged the coming friction between federal scheduling and state-licensed pharmacies already dispensing cannabis. Malone’s bottom line: the biggest prize is 280E relief.
Hear our thoughts when you tune in.
