norml11 - Page 4
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agency to then Drug. Enforcement Administration (DEA or the Agency), asking that
marijuana be removed from Schedu=le ! and freed of all controls entirely, or be
transferred from Schedule i to Schedule V where it would be. subject to-:only-
minimal controls. The Act {y its terms had placed marijuana in Schedule i
T
thereby dec1'aring, as a matter of law,: that it had no legi_imate usein-therapy
in the United States and subjecting the substance to the strictest level of
controls. The Act had been in effect for just over one year when NORML submitted
its 1972 petition.
On September I, 1972 the Director of BNDD announced his refusal to accept
the petition for filing, stating that he was not authorized to institute pro-
ceedings for the action requested because of the p_ovisions of the Single Cons
vention on Narcotic Drugs, lggl. NORML appealed this action to the United States
Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The court held that the
Director had erred in rejecting the petition without "a reflective consideration
and analysis," observing that the Director's refusal "was not the kind of agency
action that promoted the kind of interchan'ge and refinement of views that is the
lifeblood of a sound administrative process." NORM_=vo I n_erso11, 162 U.S. App.
D°C. 67, 497 F.2d 654, 659 {1974). The court remanded the matter in January
3974 for further proceedings not inconsistent with its opinion, _to be denom-
inated a consideration on the merits." Id.
A three-day hearing was held at OEA 2 by Adminis!;rative Law Judge Lewis
ParKer in January 1975. The judge found in NORML's favor on several issues but
the Acting Administrator of DEA entered a final order denying NORML's petition
"in all respects." NORML again petitioned the court for review. Finding fault
• 2 DEA became the successor agency to BNDD in a reorganization carried out
pursuant to .Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1973, eff_ July I. 1973o 38 Fed.
Rag. 15932 (1973).
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