The DEA just made its closing argument for Schedule III — and eight opponents made theirs

The rescheduling case moved from live testimony to paper on August 17, when the DEA and eight parties opposed to the change filed post-hearing briefs with Chief Administrative Law Judge Derek Julius. The filings close out the formal hearing record from the roughly three-week proceeding that wrapped in mid-July, and they're the closest thing either side gets to a closing argument.

The DEA's brief argues marijuana's abuse potential and dependency profile line up with Schedule III drugs, not Schedule I. Government attorneys leaned on HHS's 2023 finding that marijuana has a currently accepted medical use — for chronic pain, anorexia, and chemotherapy-related nausea — and argued withdrawal is generally less severe than what's seen with opioids or heroin.

The opposition isn't unified on why, just on the outcome. Smart Approaches to Marijuana and the states of Idaho, Indiana and Nebraska say the government never actually proved lower abuse potential or accepted medical use, and object to HHS swapping in a two-part test for the traditional five-factor standard. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation attacked the process's legal validity outright, citing diversion, crime and traffic-fatality concerns. Separately, transportation-safety groups warned that a Schedule III move could strip federal authority to drug-test pilots and truckers for THC.

None of this produces a ruling by itself. Judge Julius now has to draft a recommended decision "as soon as practicable," after which parties get 20 days to file exceptions, and the record then heads to the DEA Administrator at least 25 days after that — with no fixed deadline before anything reaches the Federal Register.

For operators, the practical read is: nothing changes yet. Banking, 280E exposure and insurance terms should keep being planned around Schedule I assumptions through the rest of 2026 — this stage of the process has no clock on it, and a losing argument here can still be appealed.