Protecting Science Through Challenging Drug Scheduling

The Rights and Reason Project is deeply involved in challenging the federal government’s expanding use of drug scheduling to suppress scientific research and foreclose reform. A central focus of its work has been the legal challenge to the DEA’s effort to place DOI and DOC into Schedule I, which the Project views as a test case for agency overreach and the erosion of procedural safeguards under the Controlled Substances Act. That challenge highlights how scheduling decisions are often made with limited transparency, inadequate scientific grounding, and little regard for the downstream impact on legitimate research and public health.

It has been over two years since the DEA published its intent to add DOI and DOC to Schedule I. We have established an incredibly strong record during our historic hearing in November of 2024 with testimony from many of the world's top researchers in psychedelic chemistry. In 2024, when we began our challenge, there were over 900 NIH-published papers that used DOI in their research. As of 2026, the number of NIH-published research papers utilizing DOI has risen to over 1,200. This demonstrates just how important a compound DOI is in neuropharmacological research. If the DEA takes any ongoing steps to criminalize DOI, we are ready to meet them in court again.

The Project is also actively opposing the DEA’s move to emergency-schedule 2-FDCK, a step that bypasses normal rulemaking, excludes meaningful public participation, and sharply restricts research access for up to several years without full judicial review. Emergency scheduling, by design, lowers the evidentiary bar and concentrates extraordinary power in the hands of the Drug Enforcement Administration, creating serious due process concerns and chilling scientific inquiry. The Rights and Reason Project has emphasized that these actions do not merely control drugs; they functionally control knowledge by cutting off research pathways before evidence can fully develop.

Looking ahead, the Project is closely tracking and preparing responses to government signals that 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH) may be subject to future scheduling efforts. Drawing on litigation, policy advocacy, and public education, the Project works to stop unjustified scheduling, expose the structural flaws in emergency authority, and advocate for evidence-based drug policy. Its broader mission is to defend cognitive liberty, protect scientific progress, and ensure that drug control decisions are constrained by law, science, and constitutional principles rather than fear-driven prohibition.