Terrance C. Cole, the newly appointed Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), failed to mention the stalled cannabis rescheduling process in a recent release outlining his eight top priorities for the federal agency.

During his confirmation hearings, when lawmakers asked about moving cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III, Cole said that investigating the issue would be “one of my first priorities” if appointed to the position.

However, now that he has been confirmed, the new DEA chief has announced the agency’s first eight priorities, and none of them relate to the stalled cannabis rescheduling process. Instead, Cole says the agency will focus on enforcement actions like targeting international drug traffickers, including the Mexican drug cartels; disrupting illegal drug supply chains; expanding partnerships with state and local law enforcement; targeting “illicit finance,” including cryptocurrency-based sales; and other “coordinated enforcement efforts against transnational criminal organizations.”

Notably, the DEA Administrative Law Judge who was overseeing the rescheduling case announced his retirement last week, noting that moving forward, “all matters filed in this case will be forwarded to the DEA Administrator, for whatever action, if any, he deems appropriate.

President Trump said during last year’s election that he supported removing cannabis from Schedule I under the Controlled Substances Act, but since taking office, the second Trump administration has so far remained quiet on the issue.

The campaign seeking to legalize adult-use cannabis in Oklahoma is set to begin collecting petition signatures for its proposal next month, KOSU reports. Oklahomans for Responsible Cannabis Action (ORCA) filed its constitutional amendment to legalize cannabis for adults 21-and-older in April, and the group must collect at least 172,993 valid signatures from registered Oklahoma voters to get the question on the ballot.    

ORCA Director Jed Green told KOSU that the group is encouraged by the number of medical cannabis patient ID holders in the state, which totals about 330,000, for the signature gathering portion of the effort.

“We’ve been working to communicate with our industry and community across the state the last couple of months and expect to have a presence in at least a simple majority of Oklahoma counties when we begin on August 6.” — Green to KOSU 

If approved by voters, the amendment would remove the state’s current excise tax on medical cannabis products in addition to the adult-use reforms. Adult-use cannabis sales would be taxed at 10% under the proposal.  

During a 2023 special election, Oklahoma voters rejected a ballot question to legalize adult-use cannabis by a 63% to 38% margin. The new proposal includes safeguards for the state’s medical cannabis program, rules prohibiting the use of THC metabolite tests to determine legal violations, and protections for employees, parents, and owners of firearms.  

The proposal would allow home cultivation of cannabis and allow current medical cannabis operators to immediately enter the adult-use market.