DEA Approves First Medical Marijuana Dispensaries

Medical marijuana dispensaries in Florida, Texas and five other US states have started receiving federal registrations from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in the first phase of a Justice Department order that put qualifying medical cannabis activity under Schedule III controls.

The initial batch covers more than 900 dispensaries across Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia, the Justice Department said on Friday (October 30).

The Attorney General’s April 23 order created a federal framework for qualifying medical marijuana businesses while maintaining controls under the Controlled Substances Act.

Attorney General Todd Blanche said regulated distribution by the newly registered applicants “will help ensure broader access to chronic pain treatment and the safety of the American people,” adding that the department “will continue prosecuting illegal marijuana trafficking and related criminal activity in accordance with federal law.”

A state license on its own does not guarantee federal registration. The DEA started with dispensaries that applied within the order’s initial 60-day window and operate under state medical marijuana frameworks consistent with federal law and US treaty obligations.

Furthermore, registrants must meet federal security, recordkeeping and inventory control requirements.

The DEA is still reviewing applications from the manufacturers and distributors that supply dispensaries. These require facility inspections, production controls and quota determinations.

Businesses that applied within the 60-day window can keep transacting with other qualified applicants and newly registered entities while their applications are pending, subject to the order’s requirements.

The order does not authorize recreational use, and any marijuana outside its scope remains under Schedule I controls. A separate administrative proceeding is weighing the broader proposal to reschedule marijuana.

According to Frederico Gomes, cannabis analyst at ATB Cormark Capital Markets, investors are waiting on that proceeding. “There’s nothing else that can actually move these stocks,” Gomes previously told the Investing News Network. “In terms of actually attracting more institutional capital into this sector, you really need regulatory reform.”

ATB Cormark surveyed 17 institutional investors in the fall. Nearly half felt more bullish on US cannabis stocks than they had six months earlier, and none felt more bearish.

Nearly two-thirds, however, had not changed their allocations. Gomes said regulatory and compliance constraints keep most institutions out of the sector while recreational cannabis stays federally illegal.

Gomes has held to his forecast of recreational rescheduling in early 2027, despite delays he called “very much unexpected.”

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Securities Disclosure: I, Giann Liguid, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.