Medical marijuana nursery. Photo: Shutterstock

A federal judge has dismissed a suit filed by plaintiffs who brought a constitutional challenge against the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency's classification of marijuana as a Schedule I drug, finding that they had not exhausted administrative remedies.

“Although plaintiffs couch their claim in constitutional language, they seek the same relief as would be available in an administrative forum—a change in marijuana's scheduling classification—based on the same factors that guide DEA's reclassification determination,” said U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein of the Southern District of New York in a ruling issued on Monday.

Other drugs that fall under the DEA's Schedule I classification under the Controlled Substances Act, which are defined as drugs with a high potential for abuse and have no current medical use, include heroin and LSD.

At oral arguments on Feb. 14 on the government's motion to dismiss the suit, Hellerstein said his court may not be the proper forum to challenge the classification, though he challenged the DEA's position that marijuana does not have a legitimate medical use.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Samuel Dolinger and David Jones appeared for the government in the case.

The plaintiffs were represented by Hiller PC attorneys Michael Hiller, Lauren Rudik and Fatima Afia; David Holland of the Law Offices of David Clifford Holland; and Joseph Bondy of the Law Offices of Joseph A. Bondy.

In a statement, the plaintiffs' attorneys said they would appeal Hellerstein's decision.

“Resigning the plaintiffs to the petitioning administrative process is tantamount to a death sentence for those patients who need cannabis to live,” Hiller, who presented oral arguments for the plaintiffs, said in the statement. “The time has come for the courts to abandon decades-old precedent, notched with obsolete legal technicalities, and catch up with modern science and contemporary principles of constitutional law.”