Few legal proceedings in American drug policy have opened quite like this one. Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) subpoenaed a pharmacologist from within the Drug Enforcement Administration itself to testify against rescheduling. The marijuana rescheduling hearing opened on Monday, 29 June 2026, in Arlington, Virginia. SAM is one of only seven designated parties with standing to participate. No live stream exists.

SAM filed its official prehearing statement on 24 June. It lays out a scientific and legal case against moving cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act.

What the Marijuana Rescheduling Hearing Must Decide

SAM’s submission is unambiguous. Marijuana does not meet the statutory standard for rescheduling. The statement contends that cannabis has a high potential for abuse and no currently accepted medical use. It also lacks accepted safety for use under medical supervision. Those three conditions keep a substance in Schedule I under federal law.

The statement also targets the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). HHS recommended moving marijuana to Schedule III in August 2023. SAM argues that HHS made a fundamentally flawed analysis. It compared cannabis to potentially lethal substances such as opioids. Meanwhile, it overlooked marijuana’s mounting toll: psychosis, schizophrenia, youth addiction, and cognitive impairment. A Cannabis Use Disorder (CUD) crisis now affects an estimated 19.2 million Americans, up from 14.2 million just three years ago.

Harvard Expert Steps Up to Challenge the Science

Dr Bertha K. Madras, Ph.D., leads SAM’s witness list. She is a Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. She previously served as Deputy Director for Demand Reduction in the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. The Department of Justice once called her as its sole expert to defend marijuana’s Schedule I status in federal court.

At the marijuana rescheduling hearing, Dr Madras will testify that cannabis dependence liability now rivals heroin in daily use patterns. The proportion of marijuana users who consume daily matches the percentage of daily heroin users. It runs considerably higher than equivalent figures for alcohol, cocaine, or psychedelics.

The youth picture is particularly concerning. CUD affects 4.7% of adolescents aged 12 to 17, roughly 1.2 million teenagers. That figure already surpasses the 3% alcohol use disorder rate in the same age group. Among young adults aged 18 to 25, 15.8% (5.5 million people) meet the criteria for CUD. That exceeds the 14.4% alcohol use disorder rate in the same bracket. Young people are developing CUD at twice the rate of adults. Past year new marijuana users now number 3.7 million, and 53% started before age 21.

On medical use, Dr Madras is equally pointed. No major medical organisation in the United States endorses smoked marijuana as medicine. Dispensary products lack standardised dosage, product purity, shelf life, and administration protocols. The cannabis plant contains more than 700 chemical compounds. Their quantities shift with soil quality, growing conditions, and deliberate crossbreeding. That variability makes patient safety assurances impossible.

The Subpoena That Put a DEA Scientist on the Stand

The most striking move of the cannabis rescheduling proceeding is SAM’s decision to subpoena Dr Luli R. Akinfiresoye. She is a pharmacologist in the DEA’s own Drug and Chemical Evaluation Section. She testified for the Government at the prior rescheduling hearing in 2024. For this hearing, the DEA removed her from its witness list without explanation. SAM moved to compel her attendance.

DEA counsel confirmed it will route the subpoena to Dr Akinfiresoye.

Her anticipated testimony lands directly against rescheduling. She will testify that marijuana carries substantial abuse potential, well documented dependence liability, and broad adverse health consequences across multiple organ systems. More than 61 million Americans reported using marijuana in the previous year. Many began before age 21. Repeated THC exposure alters brain reward pathways and can lead to CUD.

Dr Akinfiresoye will also speak to adolescent brain development. Cannabis use may interfere with normal neurological maturation and raise vulnerability to psychiatric disorders later in life. Credible research links marijuana use to elevated risks of psychosis, schizophrenia, depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and suicidality. High potency products and early onset of use increase those risks further.

Cardiovascular effects are part of her testimony too. Marijuana raises the risk of heart attack and stroke. Prenatal use brings its own risks. Complications include low birth weight, adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes in offspring, and higher rates of neonatal intensive care unit admissions.

The DEA’s own data supports keeping marijuana in Schedule I. The agency chose not to put that data forward. SAM will.

What the Research Presented at the Hearing Shows

The marijuana rescheduling hearing arrives at a tense moment for cannabis policy. Marijuana related emergency department visits have climbed steeply over the past decade. The rise outpaces alcohol and runs opposite to cocaine, where figures have declined.

SAM’s evidence list runs to 43 exhibits and thousands of pages. It includes clinical trial data, systematic reviews, epidemiological studies, and DEA resource documents. A February 2026 JAMA Health Forum study links adolescent cannabis use to psychotic, bipolar, depressive, and anxiety disorders. A 2026 Lancet Psychiatry meta analysis finds insufficient evidence to endorse cannabinoids for mental health or substance use disorders. A 2025 Annals of Internal Medicine systematic review connects high concentration THC products to serious mental health outcomes.

SAM also reserves the right to challenge the tribunal’s constitutional authority under the Appointments Clause of Article II. It could take that challenge to the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit.

The hearing continues through the week. No public broadcast exists.

Source: dbrecoveryresources