Con

The Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) Office of Congressional and Public Affairs wrote in a Sep. 27, 2011 email to procon.org:

“Cannabidiol is currently controlled in schedule I under the drug code for marijuana, 7360. The drug code 7372 for cannabidiol is used by DEA only for internal record-keeping purposes. DEA is currently working on a Final Rule to establish the drug code for marihuana extract as 7350.

In July 2011, DEA published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in the Federal Register. The NPRM proposes the establishment of a new drug code for marijuana extract independent of the drug code for marijuana and tetrahydrocannabinols. Drug codes are linked to DEA registrations and provide specificity as to the substance/drug/or chemical each registrant canpossess under their registration. The codes are also used for internal tracking purposes.

The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961, requires statistical reporting to the United Nations on the use and production of marijuana and marijuana extract for the medical and scientific needs of each party of the treaty. The statistical reports for marijuana and marijuana extract have to be reported separately for the U.S. to be in compliance with this treaty…

Cannabidiol has always been a schedule I controlled substance listed under marijuana…

The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) is the U.S. competent authority for determining whether a substance is safe and effective for medical use and for approving a drug product for marketing in the United States. DEA would therefore defer to DHHS for any related questions…

The Federal Register notice published in FR Vol 57 10499-10508, 1992, details the issues and criteria for determining accepted medical use…

DEA performed an outreach to the scientific community to obtain data on the current state of research and abuse potential of cannabidiol. DEA’s scientific review involving cannabidiol depends upon reliable and peer-reviewed scientific studies which are still being gathered as they become available.”

[Editor’s Note: ProCon.org also emailed five additional questions below to the DEA on Oct. 5, 2011 and received confirmation on Oct. 6, 2011 that they were forwarded to the appropriate DEA Section Chief for comment. As of May 29, 2012, we have not yet received a response.

“1. Since drug code 7372 is used by DEA only for internal record-keeping purposes, could you please provide all the internal drug codes between 7350 and 7380 along with which substance they correspond to? Since we had seen the drug code 7372 on DEA Form 225 on the DEA website we did not realize that internal codes existed.

2. When do you expect that DEA will complete its work on a Final Rule establishing the drug code for marijuana extract as 7350? A specific deadline would be ideal, but a ballpark estimate would also be useful.

3. Which substances would be classified under the new drug code 7350?

4. Will cannabidiol itself be classified under 7350 since it does not contain ‘cannabidinols AND cannabidiols’ as specified in the proposed drug code?

5. How will the new 7350 classification affect the DHHS patent [United States Patent #6,630,507 (185 KB) Oct 7, 2003] on cannabinoids and cannabidiol if at all?”] Sep. 27, 2011