DEA Wants Way More Cannabis & Psychedelics for Research In 2022

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is calling for massively increasing the production of research-grade cannabis and psychedelics for 2022, Marijuana Moment reports. The federal agency announced the change in a notice posted to the Federal Register this morning.

Two months ago, DEA already proposed a dramatic increase in cannabis and psychedelics production for 2021.

“There has been a significant increase in the use of schedule I hallucinogenic controlled substances for research and clinical trial purposes. … DEA supports regulated research with schedule I controlled substances, as evidenced by increases proposed for 2022 as compared with aggregate production quotas for these substances in 2021.” — Excerpt from DEA’s Federal Register notice

Under the proposal for increased production, DEA is calling for 3,200 grams of MDMA (an increase of 6,300%), doubling the production of psilocybin to 3,000 grams, and doubling cannabis extract production to 1,000,000 grams. The cannabis flower production quota saw a proposed increase of 1,200,000 grams for a grand total of 3,200,000 grams.

The notice includes a call for public input regarding the proposed production increases.

Currently, the licensed production of research-grade cannabis is limited to the University of Mississippi but DEA called for applications for additional cultivators and other producers of Schedule I substances. Those licenses have been long-awaited and many activists and interested parties have accused the agency of foot-dragging on the issue, but DEA said earlier this year it was poised to issue several of the licenses.

“[DEA] is working diligently to review and approve applications for schedule I manufacturers of marihuana (sic.) that conform to the federal requirements contained in the CSA,” the agency said in today’s notice.