Puerto Rico: DEA Backs Medical Benefits Ahead of June 29 Hearing

As of 28 June 2026, the federal hearing that could expand Schedule III to cover all cannabis opens Monday in Arlington, and the Drug Enforcement Administration has filed a witness list that defends the proposed rule rather than picking it apart. For Puerto Rico, the Caribbean’s largest medical cannabis market, that changes the picture from the panel-composition story a week ago.

The hearing begins 29 June at the DEA Hearing Facility, recesses 3 July for the US Independence Day, reconvenes 6 July, and must conclude by 15 July. A DEA administrative law judge oversees the proceedings and will issue a recommendation; the final scheduling decision rests with the agency.

What the Filing Says

The DEA filing, reported by Marijuana Moment on 26 June, names two witnesses the agency will call to support rescheduling. Dr. Corey Burchman, who practised pain medicine at Dartmouth-Hitchcock from 1986 to 2019, will testify that “medical marijuana provides a medical benefit to pain patients” and will walk through patient-safety measures including cultivation caps, QR codes, certificates of analysis, and certified lab testing. Dominic Chiapperino, director of the FDA’s Controlled Substance Staff, will explain the FDA’s eight-factor analysis and the findings that supported its Schedule III recommendation.

That is the inverse of the read from the June 21 participant-list story. The DEA invited only opponents of reform as formal “interested persons,” but the agency itself remains the proponent of the rule. The new filing makes clear it intends to argue for it.

What It Means for Puerto Rico

The partial Schedule III order that took effect 28 April already applies to the island’s 325 licensed dispensaries operating under the Medicinal Cannabis Act. That order removed Section 280E tax exposure for licensees and added them to the DEA registration portal. A broader move to Schedule III for all cannabis would carry further consequences.

Banking access would loosen further. Barbados operators have already pressed local banks to reopen the question on the strength of the partial order. Caribbean medical exporters in Saint Vincent and Saint Lucia, both of which target US medical markets, would face a friendlier federal posture. Puerto Rico’s stalled adult-use legalization debate would lose one of its federal-law headwinds.

For tourists, nothing at the dispensary counter shifts during the hearing window. The 30-day temporary card under Regulation 9038 is still the route for out-of-state medical patients arriving in San Juan, and cruise lines docking at the port continue to prohibit CBD and cannabis products onboard.

What to Watch

Burchman’s pain-medicine testimony is the agency’s strongest defence on the witness list. Whether the administrative law judge weighs DEA’s own witnesses against the prohibitionist panel of formal participants (Smart Approaches to Marijuana, DUID Victim Voices, the National Drug & Alcohol Screening Association, and the attorneys general of Nebraska, Idaho, Indiana, and Louisiana) will shape the recommendation that lands at the agency’s door in late summer.

Smart Approaches to Marijuana is also trying to subpoena DEA pharmacologist Luli Akinfiresoye, who submitted a harms report during the Biden-era cancelled hearing. The DEA has resisted the subpoena, citing privilege. That side fight is the one to watch for early signals about the proceeding’s balance.