SRI Sues DEA for Stalling Cannabis Research

The Arizona-based Scottsdale Research Institute (SRI) is suing the federal U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) for holding back the expansion of marijuana research. According to a story on GreenCamp, this is not the first time SRI has taken the DEA to court. The firm had previously launched a lawsuit that asked the US Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. to compel the DEA to justify its long process for approval of applications for growing cannabis for research purposes.

SRI’s current lawsuit claims that the DEA has delayed approval of marijuana grown for research without explanation. Further, the DEA changed the rules around the approval process without offering any explanation of their reinterpretation of the federal law guiding the approval process. The agency, after delaying a move on approving research for years, just recently introduced more steps to expanding research of marijuana in the U.S. SRI says the DEA is following a “secret law” undisclosed by the DEA to delay research efforts.