Marijuana Moment has obtained and published the 26-question list that DEA’s Rocky Mountain Division is sending toColorado dispensaries that applied for DEA registration under the new federal medical marijuana pathway. The questions cover ownership and management, products, employee access, suppliers, SOPs, labeling, inventory counts, theft and loss, and disposal.
Three things stand out to me. First, this confirms the process is real: apply, get inspected, get follow-up questions in writing while the DEA decides your application. Second, the questionnaire leans on state rules, citing a Colorado regulation by section. Third, a few of these questions are traps for the unprepared, because a casual answer could create a federal problem.
Below is the full list, grouped the way DEA grouped it, with what I would be thinking about before answering each group. As always, none of this is legal advice, and your answers should be reviewed by counsel before submission.
What happened
According to Marijuana Moment’s reporting, after a state-licensed medical dispensary submits DEA’s registration application, DEA personnel visit the facility and then send written follow-up questions. The 26-item list published this week is the version used by DEA’s Rocky Mountain Division, covering Colorado, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming. Mississippi operators reported similar but not identical questions from the New Orleans division earlier this summer, including items about license transfers, disciplinary history, and security plans that do not appear on the Rocky Mountain list.
That regional variation is itself information. Marijuana Moment’s reporting indicates that field implementation is varying by DEA division, and DEA has not publicly identified a single nationwide follow-up questionnaire. I would therefore treat this published list as a floor, not a ceiling. Prepare for it all: everything on this list, plus your disciplinary history, transfer history, and security posture.
If you read my article on the checklist I would carry if I were a DEA inspector, this questionnaire will look familiar:
- Ownership and control
- Who has access?
- Records that reconcile
- Suppliers
- Theft and loss
- Disposal
The comparison between what you told the government in your application and how you actually operate is no longer a theory.
The questions and how I would be thinking about them
Here’s the list of questions provided by the DEA’s Rocky Mountain Division:
- What are the name(s) and title(s) of the owners, directors or individuals in an equivalent leadership position in the business, and persons in charge on-site.
- When was your business established/incorporated?
- How long have you been operating at your current location? Any previous locations of operation?
- Are there any subsidiaries, parent companies, or related companies doing business as (DBAs)?
- What is your management structure?
- What are your hours of operation (e.g., building hours, dispensing hours, office hours, holidays, etc.)
- What are the specific controlled substances that you will be dispensing (e.g. Marijuana; Marijuana Extract; Naturally derived delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinols)?
- What are the specific types of products offered (e.g., gummies, extracts, concentrates, tinctures, topical products, oils, flower buds, oil cartridge vapes, dry herb vapes, pre-rolled cannabis cigarettes, etc.)?
- List all employees who will have physical access to medical marijuana. List the employee names, DOBs, titles, and whether they are full-time or part-time employees.
- Do you have prior experience with handling controlled substances? If yes, explain.
- Identify the analytical lab(s) used or testing your medical marijuana products.
- Do you or any individuals associated with the business hold any other DEA registrations applications?
- Are any personnel granted a Power of Attorney (POA) for the DEA application? If so, please provide a copy of the POA.
- Will you be growing marijuana?
- Please identify your medical marijuana supplier(s) to include name(s), address(es), and DEA registration number(s)
- What is your supplier’s method of shipment and delivery (e.g., common, contract carriers, 3PL, own carriers)?
- Will you be ordering marijuana or marijuana products from other states?
- Will you be ordering synthetic cannabinoids?
- Will you be ordering marijuana seeds or plants in order to grow at the dispensary location?
- Provide a copy of your Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) detailing the firm’s management and storage of medical marijuana inventory and the sale of medical marijuana to patients, pursuant to CCR § 212-3:5-115(B.5).
- What is your procedure for patient verification (e.g. medical marijuana card, ID)?
- Please provide a copy of any labeling, packaging, and sealing policies (refer to federal guidelines for medical marijuana packaging pursuant to Title 21 CFR § 1301.13(k)(8) which states that the label of all medical marijuana products shall, when dispensed to or for a patient, contain a clear, concise warning that it is a crime to transfer the drug to any person other than the patient).
- How often do you conduct an inventory (physical count) of the medical marijuana on-hand?
- What is your policy for the returns of product to the supplier? (wrong product shipped to Medical Marijuana Dispensary, or wrong strength, etc.)
- What is your policy for addressing thefts and/or losses of medical marijuana?
- How is defective (e.g. mold, rot, bug infestation), expired, or discontinued/deadstock marijuana products disposed of?
Company background (questions 1 through 14)
- Consistency. The ownership answer, the management answer, and the location answer need to match exactly what you filed. If something has changed since you applied, the answer needs to account for the change. An unexplained mismatch between this questionnaire and your application is what turns a routine follow-up into a longer conversation.
- Question 10, prior experience with controlled substances. This question should look familiar after the DEA registration application. For nearly every operator, the honest answer involves years of handling marijuana under a state license while it sat in Schedule I. DEA knows this; its own application asks a version of the same question. Answer truthfully and precisely, with counsel involved in the drafting.
- Question 14, will you be growing marijuana, is a scope question. A dispensary registration covers dispensing. If cultivation happens at your location under your state license, the answer and its implications for which registration and which form you need is exactly the kind of thing to resolve with counsel before responding, especially with DEA’s manufacturer and other business-type forms still rolling out.
