The rescheduling record is closed

Last week →  DEA asked its own judge for Schedule III

DEA published the complete transcript of its marijuana rescheduling hearing on August 25 — 2,533 pages across 11 hearing days, June 29 to July 15, at the DEA Hearing Facility in Arlington, after Chief Administrative Law Judge Derek C. Julius ordered 294 corrections. Post-hearing briefs were filed August 17. With the transcript out and the briefing done, there is nothing left in the evidentiary phase of Docket No. DEA-1362. Julius now writes a recommended decision for Administrator Terrance Cole, who holds the final call and faces no statutory deadline. What makes this larger than April's proposed rule is scope: the rulemaking as noticed would move marijuana itself, not only the state-licensed medical carve-out, and that is the difference between a narrow fix and a 280E repricing for every licensed operator in the country. Nothing has changed yet. A closed record is not a recommendation, and a recommendation is not a rule. But every step that remains is now a decision by one person, not a proceeding. How the record closed →

Top story. DEA released the full 2,533-page rescheduling hearing transcript on August 25, closing the record in Docket No. DEA-1362 and leaving Chief ALJ Derek Julius's recommended decision as the only remaining step before Administrator Cole decides.

Next three.

Why it matters: The evidentiary phase of the rescheduling docket is finished. Every argument that will inform the Administrator's decision is now on the record, and the next document that moves the process is a recommendation from a single administrative law judge. Operators modeling a 280E change should treat the timeline as live but undated — there is no statutory deadline on either the recommendation or the final decision.

DEA published the complete hearing transcript on August 25, covering 11 hearing days from June 29 to July 15, 2026 at the DEA Hearing Facility in Arlington, Virginia, after Chief ALJ Derek C. Julius ordered 294 corrections to the draft. Post-hearing briefs were filed August 17. The underlying proposed rule is Federal Register document 2026-08177, published April 28, with a companion withdrawal at 2026-08178. No recommendation has issued and Administrator Terrance Cole has taken no action as of August 29.

Why it matters: The delay has been widely reported as if it moved the deadline. It has not. November 12, 2026 remains the operative date, the delay is contingent on a continuing resolution the House has not passed, and — the part most often missed — the delay covers natural hemp only. Synthetic and semi-synthetic products face November 12 regardless of what Congress does in September.

The Senate passed its continuing resolution on August 8 by 90–6, with 21 Republicans opposing the motion to table the Budd strike amendment. The House had taken no action as of August 29 and returns from recess today. Government funding lapses September 30, which is what forces the question. Freedom Caucus chair Andy Harris (R-Md.) has said he will fight the delay; Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.) has said leadership's path depends on Democratic support for the CR.

Why it matters: Retailers stocking 7-OH products alongside delta-8 now face two separate federal cliffs built on the same principle. DEA drew its line at manufactured and concentrated derivatives while leaving plant material alone — the same natural-versus-synthesized distinction Congress drew in the hemp provision taking effect November 12. Two statutes, two agencies, one shared logic, and one shelf being cleared twice.

The Justice Department announced emergency scheduling of MGPI, MGM-15 and MGM-16 into Schedule I. The action targets manufactured and concentrated 7-hydroxymitragynine products and expressly does not reach botanical kratom, a distinction most coverage has collapsed. The timing matters in North Carolina, where HB 328 bundles kratom with hemp in a single bill that has still had no House vote.

Why it matters: The program at issue caps coverage at $500 a year, excludes inhalables, and permits no more than 3 mg of total THC per serving. If the federal hemp provision takes effect November 12 at 0.4 mg per container, the coverage ceiling and the product ceiling collide — a benefit designed around products that may not lawfully exist.

The court issued a briefing order on August 26 in the appeal of Judge Trevor McFadden's May dismissal, which turned on Article III standing. Appellants' brief is due October 5, appellees November 4, reply November 25, deferred appendix December 2, and final briefs December 16. The case may then be set for argument.

Why it matters: AB 2249 makes "attractive to children" packaging unlawful, but the DCC rubric that will define compliance is not due until July 1, 2027, and the voluntary pre-clearance channel does not exist yet either. The prohibition and its safe harbor are on different clocks, and operators sit in the gap for roughly 18 months.

AB 2249 (Irwin) cleared the Senate 38–0 on August 26 and the Assembly concurred 69–1 on August 27. It bars cartoons, depictions of anyone under 21, unicorns and dragons, and references to celebrities primarily known for children's entertainment. AB 2250 (Aguiar-Curry) passed the Senate 38–0 on August 25 and the Assembly 78–0 on August 26, excluding CBN isolate above 99% purity with no THC and no synthetics from the cannabis concentrate definition, operative January 1, 2028. Both await the governor's signature.

Why it matters: Applications close November 23, but social-equity certification must be complete by September 11 — ten and a half weeks earlier. An applicant who calendars backward from the November date has already forfeited the equity reservation the round was built to protect.

Regulators restarted the licensing round after the residency requirement was repealed. The portal opened August 7. Twenty-four licenses are available, four in each of six zones, with one social-equity and one workers'-cooperative license reserved per zone.

Why it matters: Adult-use dispensaries weighing the medical opt-in now have a slightly larger patient pool to price against, and the filing window opens in ten days. The costs are real: $5,000 non-refundable at application and an additional $10,000 per renewal, plus a patient-prioritization plan and a dedicated consultation area.

The Illinois Department of Public Health added sickle cell disease and polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome with chronic pain to the qualifying-condition list under SB 3222. Opt-in filings run through IDFPR Form F2636.

Why it matters: Delta-8 and THCA have been recriminalized in Texas since July 31 and nothing has stayed that. Three separate cases are pending and none has produced relief, which means the March 31 DSHS rules remain fully in force for anyone shipping into or operating in the state.

The Texas Hemp Business Council's interlocutory appeal sits at the 15th Court of Appeals, No. 15-26-00099-CV, with a brief filed August 14 and no oral argument scheduled. Four businesses sued DSHS on August 20 in Travis County's 459th Judicial District Court over THCA detentions and the $10,000 and $5,000 annual fees. Four retailers filed a separate Farm Bill preemption suit in the Western District of Texas on August 19.

Why it matters: The CRA is suspending hemp processors, not just cannabis licensees, and it publishes monthly disciplinary reports that name operators. Anyone holding a Michigan hemp processing license should be reading those reports as a compliance calendar rather than as news.

Michigan's Cannabis Regulatory Agency suspended the license of Loud Labs of Michigan on August 25 over alleged violations, and separately published its July 2026 disciplinary report.

Why it matters: This is the document that potency-cap and THC-limit drafters will cite for the next several years. When a state or national regulator justifies a milligram ceiling, this is now the evidence base it will point to.

The World Health Organization published a 19-page technical brief on August 25 updating the evidence base it last addressed in 2016 (ISBN 978-92-4-012327-4). We are describing the publication, not its findings — the specific figures circulating in secondary coverage have not been verified against the document itself.

Why it matters: Among the largest state-compensation outcomes a licensed cannabis producer has obtained anywhere, and a marker for how national compensation regimes treat licensed cannabis operators — as ordinary businesses rather than as a carve-out.

InterCure finalized a NIS 230 million settlement, roughly US$77 million, with the Israeli Tax Authorities and Compensation Fund on August 24, covering indirect damages from October 7, 2023 and the subsequent war.

Illinois opens its medical opt-in window on September 10, and the economics are not obvious: $5,000 non-refundable to apply, $10,000 more at every renewal, a patient-prioritization plan, and a dedicated consultation area — against a patient pool that just grew by two qualifying conditions. Our breakdown walks through what the opt-in actually requires and who it pencils out for. Read the summary →