"As President Trump weighs marijuana rescheduling in the coming weeks, the DEA's track record reveals years of mismanagement, empty promises, and patients left waiting," stated MMJ CEO Duane Boise.
WASHINGTON, D.C. / ACCESS Newswire / August 17, 2025 / President Trump's decision to potentially reschedule marijuana is the first serious step in decades to break through the bureaucratic logjam that has kept patients and scientists waiting. For years, the DEA has promised a functional marijuana research program. For years, those promises have been broken.
DEA's Promises on Paper
In its Final Rule (85 Fed. Reg. 82333, Dec. 18, 2020), the DEA pledged that marijuana manufacturing licenses would be tied to FDA science and genuine medical research. The agency declared:
"DEA will evaluate each application… to determine whether the applicant's proposed activities… will promote medical research."
"DEA will require applicants to demonstrate bona fide supply agreements with researchers authorized by the FDA to conduct clinical research."
"DEA's goal is to ensure that the United States has a sufficient supply of marihuana to meet the legitimate medical, scientific, and research needs of the United States."
These were the promises.
The Harsh Reality
But DEA's actions told a different story:
Licenses granted to companies with no FDA INDs, no clinical trial protocols, and no scientific foundation.
No bona fide supply agreements with FDA-authorized researchers - a direct violation of DEA's own Final Rule.
Four years later, there is still no adequate, federally compliant supply of cannabis for clinical trials, leaving patients with Huntington's Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, and other conditions waiting.
The only company that meets DEA's own published criteria - MMJ BioPharma, with two FDA-filed INDs and an Orphan Drug Designation - has been stalled while non-scientific registrants received licenses.
Promises Made, Promises Not Kept
DEA's marijuana program has been a case study in mismanagement:
Rules written, then ignored.
Patients promised access, then denied it.
Science promised priority, then sidelined.
President Trump's possible rescheduling decision shines a spotlight on this failure. By moving marijuana to Schedule III, he has forced the issue back into the open and made clear that real reform will require DEA accountability.
The Path Forward
Patients deserve more than empty promises. They deserve consistent, reproducible, FDA-approved medicines. They deserve agencies that follow their own rules. And they deserve leadership that keeps its word.
With rescheduling now on the table, it is time to hold DEA to account for the gap between its promises and its performance. President Trump has taken the first step - now the DEA must be compelled to deliver.
MMJ is represented by attorney Megan Sheehan.
CONTACT:
Madison Hisey
MHisey@mmjih.com
203-231-8583
SOURCE: MMJ International Holdings
View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire