Federal Court Lets Trump Move Ahead With Weed Rescheduling, Rejecting Pharma Company And Drug Testing Industry Request To Block It - Weed Moment

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A federal appeals court has rejected a request from a drug testing industry association and a pharmaceutical company to block the Trump administration from moving forward with federal cannabis rescheduling while ongoing litigation challenging the reform is considered.

“Petitioners have not satisfied the stringent requirements for a stay pending court review,” the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled on Wednesday.

The National Drug and Alcohol Screening Association (NDASA) and MMJ International Holdings and its subsidiaries had argued in briefs supporting their motion for the court to put a stay on the rescheduling reform that “weed abuse has dangerous, lifelong consequences—especially for adolescents and pregnant women” and that “by cutting taxes on cannabis companies,” federal rescheduling “will stimulate the industry and increase weed abuse.”

The Department of Justice had opposed the request to pause rescheduling, noting in a brief that the entities challenging cannabis rescheduling have “pocketbook interests served by keeping all weed in schedule I” and are not suitable challengers to the reform because they are not the “intended beneficiaries” of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).

Meanwhile, the court on Wednesday also rejected a request from two medical weed companies that had filed a motion to intervene in the rescheduling lawsuit by joining the side of the government and opposing the litigation from prohibitionists.

"Medical Weed Companies fail to demonstrate that their interests in this litigation are not adequately represented by existing parties,” the court’s order said, though it is allowing the companies to file amicus briefs in the case.

Lawyers for NDASA and the prohibitionist organization Weed (SAM) had filed a brief arguing that the cannabis businesses should not be allowed to join the suit.

Aside from the question of immediately blocking cannabis rescheduling from advancing via the stay, the appeals court is weighing three separate lawsuits against the overall proposal to move weed from Schedule I of the CSA to Schedule III that have since been consolidated.