California’s top marijuana regulator says the Drug Enforcement Administration has not been cooperative in answering questions about the implications of the Trump administration’s rescheduling move. Clint Kellum, director of the California Department of Cannabis Control, made the comments at a meeting of the Cannabis Advisory Committee on Tuesday.
“We have received no formal updates from DEA headquarters on implementation guidance of the order,” Kellum said at the meeting. He said the state has been trying to communicate with DEA headquarters to understand what its expectations will be for operators.
“Unfortunately, to date, we have not been offered any information on that front,” he said. Kellum said there have been national-level efforts to contact DEA in conjunction with cannabis regulators from other states, but they “just really haven’t seen any sort of interest on that front, unfortunately.”
At the same time, DEA has been asking California to share more information about its medical cannabis program. Kellum said California has received data requests from DEA related to medicinal production and dispensing figures in the state.
“We have asked questions in relation to what the data will be used for, and would like to spend some time with them, helping them understand California’s market,” he said. He noted that in California’s market, someone identifying their medical use is not really incentivized, so the state has not been able to share information the way it would hope.
Kellum said regulators are waiting for further guidance from the federal government before making changes to state rules related to marijuana’s evolving federal legal status. He said the state does not want to guess at DEA’s plans and then make changes with widespread effects across the market.
“I know that’s probably not sufficiently satisfying, but I think we want to sort of be methodical in our approach,” he said. In May, DCC adopted initial emergency rules changes for the state’s marijuana licensing process intended to make it easier for businesses to qualify for benefits under the rescheduling move.
In April, Attorney General Todd Blanche issued an order moving marijuana products regulated by a state medical cannabis license from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act to Schedule III. The order also covered marijuana products approved by the FDA.
Kellum said other states are starting to see DEA inspections of marijuana businesses that registered for federal protections. He said the agency has been focused more in areas with clear state medical cannabis programs than mixed states like California.
“There appears to be some regional variation in the approach to those inspections and some of their questions,” he said. DEA launched a form for cannabis businesses to register for federal protections in line with rescheduling.
Kellum said the state is tracking four major things for material changes. Those are actual DEA guidance, the result of the agency’s broader rescheduling hearing, IRS guidance on cannabis business tax issues, and litigation challenging the reform.
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