On May 23, 2011, the Coalition for Rescheduling Cannabis, Americans for Safe Access and other patient groups asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to force the federal government to answer a marijuana rescheduling petition the coalition had filed on October 9, 2002. The DEA denied the petition six weeks later, on July 8, 2011, and the D.C. Circuit upheld that denial on January 22, 2013, in Americans for Safe Access v. DEA.
The Weed Street Journal covered each step as it happened: the lawsuit, the DEA’s denial and the October 2012 oral argument. This page brings those reports from our cannabis news archive together, checked against the court opinion and the Federal Register.
What Happened
The Coalition for Rescheduling Cannabis was a group of patient and reform organizations, including NORML and California NORML, coordinated by researcher Jon Gettman. On October 9, 2002, it petitioned the DEA to move marijuana out of Schedule I and into Schedule III, IV or V of the Controlled Substances Act. According to the DEA’s eventual denial, the agency asked the Department of Health and Human Services for a scientific evaluation in July 2004, and HHS sent back a recommendation to keep marijuana in Schedule I on December 6, 2006.
Then nothing happened for more than four years. On May 23, 2011, attorneys Joe Elford of Americans for Safe Access and Michael Kennedy of the NORML Legal Committee filed a petition for a writ of mandamus in the D.C. Circuit, NORML reported. It accused the DEA and the attorney general of unreasonable delay under the Administrative Procedure Act and asked the court to order a final decision, or a statement on whether rulemaking would begin, within 60 days.
Background
The coalition’s petition was the third major attempt to reschedule marijuana through the DEA’s own process. A 1972 petition took until 1989 to resolve, after DEA Administrator John Lawn overruled the agency’s administrative law judge, Francis Young, who had found in 1988 that marijuana had accepted safety for use under medical supervision. A 1995 petition filed by Gettman was denied in 2001. Our marijuana history section and guide to marijuana’s Schedule I status and rescheduling covers that longer history.
What Happened Next
The DEA published its denial in the Federal Register on July 8, 2011, in a letter signed by Administrator Michele Leonhart dated June 21. It made three findings: marijuana “has a high potential for abuse,” “has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States,” and “lacks accepted safety for use under medical supervision.” Reason quoted Elford as saying the groups had “foiled the government’s strategy of delay,” since they could now challenge the reasoning in court.
On July 22, 2011, the groups filed a petition for review of the denial. The D.C. Circuit heard argument on October 16, 2012, before Circuit Judges Karen LeCraft Henderson and Merrick Garland and Senior Circuit Judge Harry Edwards.
The court ruled on January 22, 2013. In the majority opinion, Judge Edwards first rejected the government’s argument that no petitioner had standing. Michael Krawitz, a disabled veteran, had standing because the Department of Veterans Affairs refused to fill out state medical marijuana forms, citing the drug’s Schedule I status, so he paid for care he could otherwise get free.
On the merits, the court sided with the DEA. It noted that the question was not “whether marijuana could have some medical benefits” but whether the denial was arbitrary and capricious. The DEA’s test for “currently accepted medical use” requires, among other things, “adequate and well-controlled studies proving efficacy,” and the court found substantial evidence that such studies did not exist. Judge Henderson dissented on standing alone, arguing the Krawitz theory came too late.
Where It Stands in 2026
The 2013 ruling closed the petition route for the decade. Change came instead from the executive branch, starting with President Biden’s 2022 request for a scheduling review. Medical marijuana held under a state license moved to Schedule III in April 2026, while adult-use marijuana remains in Schedule I. We track that process on the rescheduling page and in our federal marijuana laws guide, and state rules are on our cannabis laws by state page.
Coalition for Rescheduling Cannabis Petition FAQ
What was the Coalition for Rescheduling Cannabis petition?
A petition filed with the DEA on October 9, 2002, by a coalition of patient and reform groups, asking that marijuana be moved from Schedule I to Schedule III, IV or V of the Controlled Substances Act.
Why did the coalition sue in 2011?
The DEA had not ruled on the petition in more than eight years. The May 23, 2011, lawsuit asked the D.C. Circuit to order a decision, arguing the delay was unreasonable under the Administrative Procedure Act.
When did the DEA deny the petition?
The denial was published in the Federal Register on July 8, 2011. The DEA found that marijuana had a high potential for abuse, no accepted medical use and no accepted safety under medical supervision.
What did the court decide in Americans for Safe Access v. DEA?
On January 22, 2013, the D.C. Circuit upheld the denial, finding the DEA reasonably concluded that adequate, well-controlled studies of marijuana’s efficacy did not exist. One judge dissented on standing.
Originally reported by The Weed Street Journal; rewritten and updated in October 2026 with what happened next.
