The DEA’s chief administrative law judge has ordered the agency to respond to a request that would reopen the marijuana rescheduling hearing for more testimony and discovery. The agency’s reply is due Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026, and the proceeding stays on hold until the judge rules on the pending motions.
The order, issued Oct. 14 by Chief Administrative Law Judge Derek C. Julius, is the latest step in a hearing that otherwise appeared close to its end. It follows a pause in the proceeding that began after a federal watchdog report on drug scheduling. Nothing in the order changes marijuana’s current legal status.
What the judge ordered
According to Marijuana Moment and Cannabis Business Times, Julius did two things on Oct. 14:
- He granted a motion allowing opponents of rescheduling to reply to the DEA’s most recent filing.
- He directed the DEA to respond by Oct. 21 to their request to reopen the hearing for limited discovery and testimony. Marijuana Moment reports the agency’s brief is capped at 10 pages.
Julius has not yet decided whether to admit the Government Accountability Office (GAO) report into the hearing record. As of the reporting on Oct. 14, the matter remained stayed “to allow time for the tribunal to consider the pending motions,” in the judge’s words as quoted by Cannabis Business Times.
Who is asking to reopen the hearing
Three of the parties that opposed rescheduling at the hearing filed the motions: DUID Victim Voices, Kenneth Finn, M.D., and a drug-testing industry association known as NDASA. They argue the GAO report contains evidence they could not develop during the hearing and that it supports keeping marijuana in Schedule I.
Marijuana Moment also reports that Smart Approaches to Marijuana and the states of Idaho, Indiana and Nebraska filed a joint brief on Oct. 13 arguing the report is relevant and material.
What the GAO report actually says
The report at the center of the dispute is GAO-26-108623, released Sept. 23, 2026. It reviews drug scheduling broadly rather than marijuana specifically. Its main findings:
- The DEA took scheduling actions on 208 substances from 2020 through 2025. For 95 of them an HHS evaluation was required, and the DEA considered all of them.
- For the 84 substances with final rules as of Dec. 31, 2025, DEA’s decisions matched HHS recommendations.
- The DEA lacks written policies defining roles and procedures for scheduling, and the FDA lacks procedures for how staff conduct its evaluations.
- The memorandum of understanding between the FDA and the National Institute on Drug Abuse is more than 40 years old and does not reflect current procedures.
GAO recommended that the DEA and FDA write comprehensive policies and that the FDA and NIH update their agreement. The DEA, FDA and HHS concurred, and all three recommendations were listed as open.
The competing arguments
Opponents say the report supports their claim that the government’s approach to marijuana was inadequately explained. The DEA sees it differently. In its Oct. 9 filing, the agency deferred to the judge on whether the report should be admitted but opposed additional briefing, according to Cannabis Business Times. DEA counsel wrote that “the GAO report itself is new; however, the information contained within is not,” and argued the report points to gaps in documentation rather than flaws in the scientific analysis.
These are the parties’ own characterizations. The report itself makes no finding about whether marijuana belongs in Schedule III.
What happens next
- Oct. 21: DEA’s response to the request to reopen the hearing is due.
- Judge’s ruling: Julius must decide whether to admit the GAO report and whether to allow added briefing, testimony or discovery. Any of those could extend the timeline.
- Recommendation: Once the record is settled, Julius is expected to certify it and make a nonbinding recommendation to DEA Administrator Terry Cole, who makes the final decision.
What this means for readers
For now, the practical answer is that nothing changes. Marijuana remains a Schedule I controlled substance under federal law, and federal legal status still differs from state law in most of the country. Even a Schedule III outcome would not by itself make every cannabis activity lawful. For background, see our overview of the history of cannabis legalization in the United States.
Ganjly will report on the DEA’s Oct. 21 filing and the judge’s next ruling once they are public.
Sources
- U.S. Government Accountability Office, GAO-26-108623: Drug Scheduling (Sept. 23, 2026)
- Marijuana Moment: DEA judge orders agency to address rescheduling opponents’ request (Oct. 14, 2026)
- Cannabis Business Times: Rescheduling process remains sidelined, DEA judge orders new replies
- Cannabis Business Times: DEA objects to additional briefing request, defers to judge
Tracking the full picture? See Ganjly’s Marijuana Rescheduling Tracker for the complete, updated timeline of the federal rescheduling process.
