DEA

The DEA admitted in a recent report to Congress that state-wide cannabis legalization policies have overall reduced demand in the illicit cannabis market.

The USDA has removed a requirement for the coming growing season that all hemp crops be tested by DEA-approved labs.

Lawmakers questioned officials from the DEA, FDA, and National Institutes of Health yesterday about the federal limitations on cannabis research; Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-MA) accused the government agencies of hiding behind a cannabis “Catch-22.”

The DEA has announced an expansion of medical cannabis research options and a change in policy: hemp cultivators no longer need to register with the agency in light of the crop’s federal legalization.

Dr. Sue Sisley of the Scottsdale Research Institute is suing the DEA over hurdles to cannabis research — specifically, that government-sourced cannabis is nothing like the products being used en masse throughout legal states.

A federal appeals court has ruled that a lawsuit challenging the prohibition of cannabis can remain open — despite being dismissed last year — so that actions can be taken against the Drug Enforcement Agency if it fails to address the issue of cannabis’ Schedule 1 status.

The DEA is carefully monitoring and sometimes modifying interviews by its personnel — and other representations of the agency — as part of a larger media effort to control how it appears in documentaries, reality shows, and dramas.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has released guidance allowing farmers to import hemp seed from international industrial hemp markets — as long as said seeds are documented to produce plants containing less THC than the federal limit of 0.3 percent.

The DEA claims the houses raided were all connected to east coast crime syndicates, but the raids have resulted in no arrests.