The announcements of rescheduling for medical cannabis products and the 60-day registration window with the DEA have created uncertainty. The DEA will grant safe-harbor protections to anyone registering within the 60-day window while reviewing their applications. The agency will also expedite cannabis business applicants from state-licensed medical cannabis operators.
What is unclear, however, is if these registration requirements and alleged benefits will be sufficiently appealing for licensed operators to register with the DEA. It is also unclear how much, exactly, of the current rescheduling orders will survive legal challenges.
A pending lawsuit challenges the rescheduling order, and its outcome will determine how much of the existing order remains, requires revision, or goes to law-compliant channels. The litigants are challenging whether the Attorney General has the authority to establish specific requirements for a rescheduled substance. This challenge will have direct implications for the contents of the rescheduling order. The order is not likely to be completely overturned, but it would be imprudent to project any specific result. But many legal experts are in consensus that the courts have a significant likelihood of striking down portions of the order. If or when that happens, additional rulemaking from the DOJ will be key for determining the contour of federal medical cannabis regulations.
Many Operators Will Likely Not Want To Participate, As Currently Designed
A state-legal operator has to consider whether participating in the federal requirements will have a positive return. The benefits of participation are apparent (access to increased deductions by escaping 280E), but the cost and certainty of success is going to be unknown. Two prominent facets to consider are: the potential attestations or representations a medical cannabis business must make to acquire a federal registration, and the potential costs and challenges of establishing a compliant facility to meet DEA and DOJ requirements.
For the first question about attestations, it is unknown how any dual-use cannabis business can comply with the registration requirements. Under the rules of the order, the DEA must reject applications that are “inconsistent with the public interest under 21 U.S.C. 823.” This section refers to requirements under the Controlled Substances Act, and in particular one of the mandates in the section is that any approved practitioner must “adequately safeguard against diversion of such controlled substances from legitimate medical or scientific use.” To put it simply, it would be impossible for any dual-use cannabis licensee to satisfy this. While we do not yet know if the DEA will reject all such dual-use applicants, the ongoing compliance challenges for an operator would leave everyone in knowing non-compliance, even if they received approval.
Secondly, the proposed structures and processes for state-registered medical cannabis are similarly daunting to existing cannabis operators. In order to comply with their obligations under international treaties, the DEA will be required to buy and resell all approved medical cannabis products. Also, a fee will be imposed for administration. Beyond the logistics of clearing all products through a buy/resell system, the rescheduling order established additional requirements that might make many operators pause.
Specifically, the orders require that registrants store their cannabis products in a facility the DEA maintains continuous access to. While this arrangement will be tolerable to a scant number of medical-only cannabis operators, there is little reason to imagine why a dual-use cannabis business would submit their facility to continual DEA access. Until there is greater protection, or reduction in scheduling to all cannabis products, many operators will likely choose to wait.
Some States May Mandate DEA Participation
While many operators will be cautious or wait out this first registration window for DEA applicants, for reasons mentioned above, at least one state agency has already made a move to require all of their licensed medical cannabis cultivators and distributors to register with the federal government. On May 8, 2026, Oklahoma’s Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (OBNDD) ordered all manufacturers and distributors to obtain Schedule III registration proof from the DEA. Because OBNDD delays administrative enforcement until January 1, 2027, Oklahoman cannabis businesses have a closing window to submit applications.
Oklahoma’s division of cannabis regulations is peculiar from a national perspective. The Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority (OMMA) is the primary regulator, but the OBNDD enforces the state’s Controlled Substances Act. This enables the OBNDD to order federal compliance as a requirement for state drug law compliance.
This arrangement is not in many states, but any and all medical-only cannabis jurisdictions could (potentially) face a similar moment.
The DOJ looks to leverage state regulations, rather than impose their own
Even in the midst of uncertainty and the risk of legal challenge, there are elements in the rescheduling order that potentially shed some light for operators about the future of cannabis regulations.
For years, there have been discussions about what the future of federal US cannabis regulations may look like. Would the federal government assume total control of cannabis regulation? Or would the federal government defer to states and only levy taxes on state sales? Something in between? There’s even been several federal bills for cannabis legalization that had significantly different regulatory stances. The MORE Act proposed that the Secretary of HHS and Commissioner of the FDA would promulgate federal rules to regulate cannabis production. The STATES 2.0 Act proposed to deschedule and remove from the CSA all cannabis produced in compliance with state law.
AG Blanche’s order states that current state medical cannabis systems are sufficiently comprehensive to meet US obligations under international law. The order also states that it is acceptable for the federal government to leverage state regulations for controlling cannabis production. As a result, just a few additional federal requirements would be added to the existing regulations.
This admission in the rescheduling order has minimal impact to operators, but it is a valid signal for agency priorities. The Attorney General is stating that state-legal cannabis regulations are sufficiently thorough to meet international treaty requirements. That’s a positive sign for their inclusion in future systems of cannabis policy. Existing markets will likely guide the general structure of rescheduled cannabis, though regulators must still complete significant work and further address policy issues.
At Simplifya, we’ve worked hard to understand state-level regulations and build solutions that ensure compliance. The work is difficult, complex, and tedious. Now it seems we are better-prepared for when fuller cannabis regulations do appear at the federal level. There don’t seem to be big, bold changes to state government policy.
Conclusion
As stated above, the prospect of participating in the new federal cannabis system presents risks to operators. It is beyond the scope of a blog post to give an operator a simple “yes” or “no.” The potential benefits of securing registration as a producer of Schedule III cannabis products will be tempting for many. Even in the first month since the order was published, several multi-state operators have submitted applications to the DEA. The list includes Green Thumb, Trulieve, Jushi, and Curaleaf. It’s unclear if they are submitting applications for some or all locations, but they clearly think it’s worth the risk.
There are also smaller, single-state cannabis businesses who have submitted applications. It is more likely if they have been a medical-only business in the past. The obligations in the current rules and uncertainty about legal challenges, however, mean that most are hesitating. There are many unknowns, both in the short- and medium-term. For many operators, the most likely choice will be a familiar one – keep waiting.