A total of 30 U.S. states have officially given cannabis the green light, with Oklahoma being the most recent state to legalize the green plant for medical use. Despite this, cannabis is still deemed to be a Schedule I substance by the federal government.

In the most recent turn of events, the DEA has urged for increased medicinal cannabis production in 2019. Based on this news, it seems that the federal agency is finally coming to terms with the fact that cannabis-derived products do not necessarily fit the Controlled Substances Act definition as “substances, or chemicals with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.”

“Schedule 1 drugs are the most dangerous drugs of all the drug schedules with potentially severe psychological or physical dependence,” according to the CSA. This means that cannabis is considered just as dangerous as heroin, cocaine, and LSD.

Well, things are changing and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, better known as the DEA, seems to be warming up to the idea of legal weed.

DEA requested less cannabis production in 2018 than in 2017

Back in 2016, the Obama administration amended researchers’ incapacity to procure and test medicinal-grade cannabis.

Under the Obama administration, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) permitted licensing to new cannabis cultivators, which would effectively put an end to the restraint of federally grown cannabis put forth by the University of Mississippi in 1968.

As a result of the Obama administration, researchers should have been granted the ability to carry out clinical and laboratory studies. However, things haven’t quite turned out as planned.

In 2017, around 25 applications were submitted for federal cannabis cultivation farms. With Attorney General Jeff Sessions being such a cannabis opponent, it’s not really surprising that the applications have been overlooked.

Factually, the 443,680 grams of cannabis that the DEA requested for cultivation this year is less than the requested amount in 2017.

DEA urges for production of almost 2.5 million grams of cannabis in 2019

Cannabis activists are getting fed up of the DEA failing to live up to its promises. Nonetheless, the DEA appears to be changing its tune on the topic of cannabis.

Forbes has reported that the drug regulatory agency, based on a recent register filing from the DEA, is requesting a larger amount of cannabis to be produced in 2019.

The report states that the DEA wants a total of 2,450,000 grams of cannabis to be cultivated next year in a bid “to meet the country’s medical, scientific, research, industrial, and export needs for the year and for the establishment of reserve stocks.”

If we take previously requested figures into account, the DEA’s cannabis production request is a 452 percent year-over-year increase.

It is uncertain precisely where the new batch of cannabis will be produced. Perhaps it will be sourced from the University of Mississippi in an attempt to replenish diminished reserves. There is also a good chance it will come from new cannabis grow farms across the U.S., if the federal cannabis cultivation farms are accepted by the DEA and Sessions, that is.

Although Sessions doesn’t seem to be changing his tune on cannabis production, bipartisan badgering from lawmakers is sure to tip him over the edge at some point. However, the recent DEA cannabis production request is not likely to overly influence the industry.

Since Republicans remain in charge of the Senate and the House of Representatives, the GOP is firmly in opposition of cannabis, as opposed to Democrats or Independents.