DEA Increases Psychedelic Production, Shifts Cocaine Derivatives – Could Cannabis Be Next?

By Nina Zdinjak

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has increased the legal production quotas for List I illicit drugs like psilocybin, MDMA and DMT … again. The agency set its initial targets for making psychedelics for research in the US earlier this year and then increased them in September, opening a public comment period, Marijuana Moment writes.

Now, after the public comment period has expired and the feedback has been checked, the DEA has once again increased the statutory production quotas for these substances. The new quota for psilocybin is 6 kg by the end of the year, which is four times the previous value.

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For MDMA and DMT, final quotas rose 6,300%, with DEA ​​targeting 3.2kg production by the end of the year.

“DEA recognizes the appreciation for changes in the [Aggregate Production Quotas] for these controlled substances ”, it says in the announcement. “The adjustments in the selection of hallucinogenic Schedule I controlled substances came after DEA received additional protocols for Schedule I researchers from DEA-registered researchers and quota requests from DEA-registered manufacturers.”

In addition, DEA aims to produce 2000 kg of cannabis this year.

DEA to move cocaine-derived drugs

The agency hit the headlines again this week, announcing that it will scrap a controlled substance derived from cocaine, Marijuana Moment reported.

The move comes almost three years after the DEA received a petition for the policy change. And all along the way, the agency apparently planned to remove the cocaine derivative from Appendix II and completely abolish criminal and related penalties, while cannabis and psilocybin remain List I drugs.

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The DEA published a notice in the federal register last week revealing that the drug [18 F]FP-CIT is “a diagnostic substance used to aid in the assessment of adult patients with suspected Parkinson’s disease” and is used in the “visualization of striatal dopamine transporters (DAT) using positron emission tomography (PET)”.

The DEA publication further stated, “Based on the FDA’s scientific and medical review … and the findings regarding the substance’s abuse potential, legitimate medical use, and addiction liability, HHS recommended that” [18 F]FP-CIT will be deleted from all CSA timetables. “

RELATED: Court Rejects Petition Telling DEA To Move Cannabis But A Judge Says It May Still Be Reclassified

What about cannabis that has been repeatedly listed as a substance with high potential for abuse and low medicinal value?

Well, when the U.S. Ninth District Court of Appeals ruled against a petition in August that the DEA should rearrange cannabis in all its forms under the Controlled Substances Acts (CSA), a ray of hope emerged in the form of Judge Paul Watford. Watford said in a unanimous statement that the agency may be required to reclassify cannabis in light of the misinterpretation of the medicinal value of marijuana.

This article originally appeared on Benzinga and was republished with permission.