From Vicente:
“Testimony in DEA’s marijuana-rescheduling proceeding concluded July 15 after 11 hearing days. The final witnesses did not erase the Government’s advantage under the Controlled Substances Act’s Schedule III criteria. They did, however, identify weaknesses, omissions, and disputed assumptions that DEA will have to confront in any final rule.
“That distinction defined the closing days of the hearing. Dr. Deepak Cyril D’Souza mounted the opposition’s most substantial challenge to the evidence supporting marijuana’s medical use for pain and emphasized its psychiatric risks. Other witnesses addressed product variability, youth exposure, diversion, and illicit cultivation.
“Their testimony strengthened the argument that the agencies owe a fuller explanation. It did considerably less to establish that marijuana belongs in Schedule I or Schedule II rather than Schedule III.”