National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws v. Drug Enforcement Administration

In 1972, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) (plaintiff) petitioned the director of the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (the BNDD) (defendant), as delegee of the United States Attorney General, to initiate proceedings to remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) or, in the alternative, to reschedule marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule V. The director refused to accept NORML’s petition, reasoning that granting NORML’s request would require the United States to violate certain treaty obligations. The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit reversed the director’s decision and remanded the matter for consideration on its merits. In phase one of its remand proceedings, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), as successor to the BNDD, determined that the relevant treaty did not prohibit the United States from rescheduling certain portions of the marijuana plant and removing other portions of the marijuana plant from CSA coverage. Section 201 of the CSA required the DEA to refer NORML’s petition to the Secretary of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) for medical and scientific findings and recommendations prior to deciding whether to reschedule or deschedule marijuana. In phase two of its remand proceedings, the DEA declined to refer the petition to the HEW. Instead, the DEA relied on a one-page letter from Dr. Theodore Cooper, an HEW official, that concluded without explanation that that there was no accepted medical use of marijuana in the United States. Based on the letter, and reasoning that the CSA required drugs with no accepted medical use to be placed in Schedule I, the DEA concluded that marijuana could not be removed from Schedule I. NORML appealed the DEA’s decision.