DEA

The Drug Enforcement Administration, established by Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1973, is the component of the U.S. Department of Justice responsible for enforcing the CSA and related controlled-substances statutes. DEA registers manufacturers, distributors, dispensers, researchers, and importers/exporters under 21 U.S.C. § 822; administers the scheduling process (in consultation with HHS); sets annual aggregate production quotas; and investigates diversion and trafficking. DEA has never issued a commercial registration for a Schedule I marijuana handler outside a tightly limited research framework; until 2021 the University of Mississippi held the sole federal marijuana-research cultivation registration. As of April 2026, Terrance C. Cole serves as DEA Administrator (confirmed July 22, 2025, 50–47). DEA's cannabis rescheduling rulemaking (89 Fed. Reg. 44597) remained stalled before Chief ALJ John J. Mulrooney II, with hearings postponed since January 13, 2025. Trump's Executive Order 14370 (Dec. 18, 2025) directed DEA to complete the rulemaking "in the most expeditious manner"; Administrator Cole's July 2025 strategic priorities list did not mention cannabis. *→ See also: Controlled Substances Act, Schedule I, Rescheduling, DOJ