DEA registration and federal cannabis compliance counsel

Where things stand after the window

• If you filed a complete application, with the fee, between April 28 and June 26, 2026: you are a Timely Applicant. You have conditional operating authority while your application is pending under 21 C.F.R. § 1301.13(k)(7), but you are not a DEA registrant until DEA issues the registration. Under the October 30 federal guidance you may do business only with other Timely Applicants and DEA registrants authorized for Schedule III medical marijuana, you are expected to verify each of those partners and keep records of the checks, and the guidance expects compliant supply chains by November 29, 2026. Plan now for the federal compliance regime that follows: security, recordkeeping, inventory, reporting, and DEA inspection. What the guidance means for your business →
• If you filed after June 26, 2026: your application is in the standard queue. A pending late application does not carry conditional operating authority, and until your registration is granted, Timely Applicants and registrants may not do business with you. The eligibility, records, and public-interest work is the same; the timing and the exposure during review are different.
• If you did not file: the pathway remains available in the standard queue, without priority processing or conditional operating authority. Your medical channel is now a Schedule III substance federally, your § 280E position may have changed, and your federal status as an unregistered operator handling Schedule III product is a question you should not leave unanswered.
• Either way, the landscape is moving weekly: IRS transition guidance, rescheduling proceedings, DOJ enforcement posture, and the treatment of operators who did not file.

To find out where you stand: call or text (916) 572-6445, email Ryan@Kocotlaw.com, or book a consultation.

What § 1301.13(k) does

In April 2026, the Acting Attorney General published AG Order No. 6754-2026, 91 Fed. Reg. 22714, rescheduling FDA-approved marijuana drug products and marijuana subject to a state medical marijuana license from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act. The same order created an expedited federal registration pathway at 21 C.F.R. § 1301.13(k) for state-licensed medical marijuana operators. The pathway provides four things that did not exist before:

1. A federal registration category that matches state-licensed medical activity. Under § 1301.13(k)(1), state-licensed operators can register as manufacturers, distributors, or dispensers. A single entity may hold multiple categories.
2. State licenses as conclusive evidence of state authorization. Under § 1301.13(k)(2), a current state medical marijuana license is “conclusive evidence” that the applicant is authorized under state law to engage in the licensed activity.
3. State recordkeeping accepted to the maximum extent permissible. Under § 1301.13(k)(4), state-required reports, records, and forms are accepted in lieu of federal versions wherever federal statutory and treaty obligations permit. METRC and equivalent state track-and-trace systems may satisfy or support many inventory and recordkeeping requirements, but operators should not assume state records cover every federal obligation without a gap review.
4. Conditional operating authority during pendency, for priority-window filers. Under § 1301.13(k)(7), applicants who filed within the 60-day window may manufacture, distribute, or dispense marijuana for medical purposes in conformity with a state-issued license while the application is pending. This authority belongs to window filers; applications filed after the window closed in June 2026 do not carry it.

Filing after the window: what changes

The registration pathway did not close entirely; the priority did. Standard-queue applications remain available for every registration category. What is different:

• No conditional operating authority during pendency. Post-window applicants should plan for activity exposure during the review period; that planning is part of the engagement, not an afterthought.
• No priority processing. Plan for longer and less predictable review timelines.
• The eligibility, records, public-interest, and Article 23 work is unchanged, and doing it right the first time matters more when there is no priority treatment to absorb a bounce-back.

Who needs a DEA registration attorney

State-licensed medical marijuana operators pursuing federal DEA registration under § 1301.13(k):

What we handle in a DEA registration engagement

End-to-end, not just the form. A DEA registration application is a regulated filing under 21 C.F.R. Part 1301, and the form itself is the smallest part of the process. The work that determines whether the application is approved happens before submission.

Compliance after registration, and posture without it

Registration is the beginning of the federal relationship, not the end. A registrant is inspected against federal expectations, keeps federal records, and answers for every gap between what the state requires and what the DEA expects. An operator who did not register has a federal posture too, and it needs to be a decision, not a default.

What the order does not do

The April 2026 order is significant but limited:

Frequently asked questions

Attorney advertising. This page is general information about federal law as of its last review and is not legal advice. Reading it, calling, or submitting a form does not create an attorney-client relationship; none is formed unless and until Kocot Law completes a conflict check and both parties sign an engagement letter. Federal guidance in this area changes frequently; confirm the current state of the rule before relying on any statement here. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.