The historic federal hearing that will help decide whether marijuana is downgraded from Schedule I to Schedule III opened Monday in Arlington, Virginia, kicking off a proceeding expected to run through July 15. Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM), appearing as a designated party alongside the states of Idaho, Nebraska, and Indiana, joined a coalition of public health and safety advocates opposing the change, including the National Drug and Alcohol Screening Association, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, and DUID Victim Voices.
The federal government, which is the proponent of rescheduling, used its opening to insist the hearing is about “regulation, not legalization.” It then called its first witness, Dr. Chiapperino, a senior FDA official who directs the agency’s Controlled Substances Staff and oversaw the marijuana review. He testified that the FDA’s 10-month process concluded marijuana has a “currently accepted medical use” for three conditions — pain, anorexia, and chemotherapy-related nausea — and recommended Schedule III.
But under cross-examination from the designated parties (today’s cross-examinations were conducted by NDASA, TBI, and DUID), the government’s own witness acknowledged a striking series of gaps in that analysis:
- The review did not specifically examine the effects of marijuana on pregnant women.
- It leaned heavily on data from 2015–2019, with the witness conceding the government has no real handle on use trends in 2024, 2025, or 2026.
- The FDA did not assess how much marijuana is being diverted out of state dispensary programs — and admitted it never asked.
- He conceded marijuana’s chemical makeup is so variable that it is not consistently reproducible, unlike virtually every approved medicine — and that the FDA has not recognized accepted medical use for any other substance with such an inconsistent profile.
- He acknowledged “medical” marijuana is not prescribed or dosed the way pharmacy medicines are, and that the agency had no data on what patients actually purchase at a dispensary.
- In one state program studied, anxiety was the single most common reason patients sought marijuana — even though the FDA found no credible evidence that marijuana effectively treats anxiety.
- And, questioned by DUID Victim Voices, he acknowledged the government had not spoken with a single parent, grieving family, or impaired-driving victim in building its recommendation.
For opponents of rescheduling, day one reinforced the core concern they carried into the hearing: that a decision with enormous consequences for America’s kids is being built on incomplete and dated evidence.
SAM will present its own expert witnesses in the days ahead. SAM and the rest of the interested parties will have their opportunity to cross-examine Dr. Chiapperino tomorrow, before the second witness, a pain physician who recommends marijuana, takes the stand as the government’s final witness. The hearing continues this week, takes a recess on July 3, and is scheduled to conclude on July 15, with official transcripts posted by the DEA.