ACCESS Newswire
07 Jun 2026, 19:45 GMT+10

'As DEA rescheduling cases merge and federal hemp litigation moves to the D.C. Circuit, MMJ argues that companies following FDA rules should not be disadvantaged while non-FDA-approved cannabinoid products receive federal support' stated Duane Boise, CEO MMJ International Holdings.

WASHINGTON, D.C. / ACCESS Newswire / June 7, 2026 / On April 28, 2026, the Acting Attorney General of the United States signed a single order that changed the legal status of marijuana in America - effective the same day it was published, without a public comment period, without a congressional vote, and without completing the formal scientific hearing that federal law requires.

Within days, three separate legal challenges had been filed in the federal courts. Today, all of them are headed to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit - the most powerful federal appeals court in the country for cases involving federal agencies.

One of the challengers is not an anti-marijuana group.

MMJ International Holdings is a pharmaceutical company that has spent nearly a decade and more than ten million dollars trying to turn cannabinoid compounds into real FDA-approved medicine - for patients with Huntington's disease, multiple sclerosis, and other serious neurological conditions. MMJ did everything the government asked: protocols for clinical trials, FDA Orphan Drug Award, DEA registrations, drug safety studies, pharmaceutical manufacturing testing standards, and FDA IND applications. MMJ also completed manufacturing a final dose form soft gel capsule for it clinical trials.

Now MMJ is watching the federal government hand its competitors a fast lane - while MMJ is still waiting in line after nearly 2,500 days.

Here is what the federal government did, and why it matters to ordinary Americans:

1. The government moved marijuana to a lower-risk drug category overnight. Under a law called the Controlled Substances Act, drugs are ranked by their risk and medical use. Marijuana was in Schedule I - the most restricted category, alongside heroin. The April 28 order moved it to Schedule III, the same category as ketamine and some anabolic steroids. That sounds like a medical decision. But it was made without the scientific review the law requires.

2. It potentially eliminated a massive tax bill for the marijuana industry. A federal tax rule called Section 280E prevents businesses selling Schedule I or II drugs from deducting normal business expenses. State marijuana dispensaries have paid hundreds of millions of dollars in extra taxes under this rule for years. The moment marijuana moved to Schedule III, that tax burden disappeared. No vote. No hearing. One signature.