Cannabis Farmer Recounts Two Weeks Inside DEA's Marijuana Rescheduling Hearing

Max Jackson, founder of Cannabis Wise Guys, spent two weeks this summer observing the Drug Enforcement Administration's marijuana rescheduling hearing. Jackson, a former licensed grower who ran a 13,000-plant operation in Trinity County, California, wrote in an op-ed that the gallery holds about 20 seats, mostly filled by DEA agents rather than the public, with no cameras or laptops permitted. The DEA and Department of Justice, presenting analysis from the Food and Drug Administration and Department of Health and Human Services, are the parties advocating for moving marijuana to Schedule III and carry the burden of proof. All seven interested parties oppose rescheduling; DEA named none in favor. The government called only two witnesses, an FDA controlled-substances official and a pain physician, then rested. Reporter Natalie Fertig said DEA asked only three cross-examination questions through most of the hearing. In the hearing's final week, an emergency physician called by pro-se participant Phillip Drum presented a slideshow of patient cases. DEA's cross-examination, the hearing's longest, showed several images, including a toddler with a bong and a baby with a pipe, came from Google searches and a Reddit forum with no verified source; the witness admitted she didn't know if the baby photo was real. She agreed each cited case, including teenagers with vapes and accidental pediatric ingestions, involved illegal diversion. Yale psychiatry professor Dr. Deepak Cyril D'Souza, called by Nebraska, Idaho and Indiana, testified that cannabis potency has risen five- to tenfold over three to four decades and that smoking marijuana is causally linked to schizophrenia, citing epidemiologist Bradford Hill's methodology. He said psychiatric risks outweigh cannabis's benefits and rejected the states' framing of marijuana as a hallucinogen. Under cross-examination, he acknowledged most users won't develop psychosis and called cannabis withdrawal self-limiting, contradicting his direct testimony that withdrawal drives relapse. His 2004 and 2008 studies gave subjects THC intravenously at 2.5 and 5 milligrams, a method never raised during his testimony. Humboldt County, California Sheriff William Honsal, a 31-year law enforcement veteran, testified that licensed cannabis often diverts out of state for higher prices, about $300 per pound legally versus $1,000 or more untaxed elsewhere, while illicit product also enters the licensed supply chain. He said California's Metrc tracking system doesn't reliably work. Post-hearing briefs are due August 17, capped at 50 pages. Chief Administrative Law Judge Derek Julius will issue a non-binding recommendation before DEA's administrator makes a final decision.