Public Attitudes Toward the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Proposal to Reschedule Marijuana: A Cross-Sectional Mixed-Methods Analysis

Abstract Introduction: On May 21, 2024, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) published a proposed rule to reschedule marijuana from schedule I to III under the Controlled Substance Act (CSA), followed by a 60-day open comment period. The purpose of this study was to analyze the public attitudes regarding the proposed rule and identify trends based on time of comment submission and recurring arguments throughout the comments. Methods: This was an observational, cross-sectional, mixed-methods study. Comments from the proposal were stratified