The fight over Schedule III now has a calendar, and it runs into 2027

The Justice Department and the groups suing over the administration's move to Schedule III filed a joint proposal with the D.C. Circuit on October 9. The challengers include Smart Approaches to Marijuana, a drug-screening trade group, a coalition led by MMJ International Holdings, and the attorneys general of Indiana and Nebraska. Louisiana's attorney general had joined and then withdrew.

Under the proposal, the challengers file their opening brief on November 24. The government answers on January 13, 2027, a reply follows February 5, and final briefs land February 19. Both sides want oral argument scheduled quickly after that, ideally before the court's summer recess, and have asked for extra word count.

This is a separate track from the DEA hearing on adult-use rescheduling, which a judge paused late last month while a government watchdog report is considered. Commentators in the trade press are calling that pause a delay rather than a defeat, but nothing in either process produces an answer before the new year.

What it means for operators: the April reclassification of state-licensed medical products stays in force while the case is briefed, but the case is a live risk to it. Planning that assumes a settled federal status, or a 280E fix, before mid-2027 is getting ahead of the court calendar.