DEA Rescheduling Hearing Order: GAO Report In, No Reopening

Did the DEA reopen the marijuana rescheduling hearing? No: the Oct. 22, 2026 order denied the request to reopen it while admitting the GAO report into the record. Status as of Oct. 26: the case remains stayed through a limited briefing schedule. Optional briefs are due Oct. 29, replies Nov. 5; the order sets no date for a recommended decision.

What the Oct. 22 order decided

Chief Administrative Law Judge Derek C. Julius ruled on two pending requests in the Oct. 22 order (DEA Docket No. 1362; Hearing Docket No. 26-96):

• GAO report: admitted. The Sept. 23 GAO report is now in the record as Finn Exhibit 126.
• Reopening: denied. The order does not authorize new discovery or witness testimony. It resolves this request to reopen, not the ultimate rescheduling proposal.
• Why: the judge found the request insufficient to reopen a record already containing more than 2,500 pages of testimony and thousands of pages of documentary evidence.

The order identifies the moving parties as DUID Victim Voices, Kenneth Finn, M.D., and NDASA. It also records that the government timely opposed reopening for additional testimony and evidence. The admission question and the reopening question were separate decisions. See the order at pages 1–2 and 4–5.

The briefing schedule and the stay

• Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026: briefs on the GAO report’s weight and effect are due. They are optional and capped at ten double-spaced pages.
• Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026: any replies are due.
• The stay: it continues through the briefing period and expires automatically when that schedule concludes.

The order sets no date for the judge’s recommended decision. Earlier steps in the proceeding are collected on our marijuana rescheduling tracker and in our coverage of the post-hearing briefing.

What it means

Analysis: opponents obtained admission of the GAO report and a chance to brief it, but not the requested discovery and testimony. The next scheduled steps are briefs and replies. This order does not decide the rescheduling proposal or promise when a recommended decision will issue.

This procedural order does not itself reschedule marijuana or authorize sales. Related coverage: the Sixth Circuit’s Hello Farms ruling and South Dakota’s attorney general opinion.

What to watch

• Which parties file optional briefs by Oct. 29, and any replies by Nov. 5.
• The end of the stay when briefing closes.
• Any recommended decision posted to the DEA hearing page (none as of Oct. 26).

Thomas and Miggy broke down the order on the Oct. 25, 2026 episode of Cannabis Legalization News.

Original sources

• DEA Office of Administrative Law Judges, Order Granting Motion to Admit GAO Report and Motion to File Supplemental Briefs; Order Denying Motion to Reopen Hearing (Oct. 22, 2026)
• DEA Office of Administrative Law Judges, Order for Response to Motion to Reopen Hearing (Oct. 14, 2026)
• DEA, Proposed rescheduling of marijuana: hearing filings

By Thomas Howard, cannabis attorney. Thomas Howard practices cannabis law. General information, not legal advice.