US: Village Farms to participate in DEA hearing

Village Farms International was one of 25 participants selected to participate in the Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) upcoming Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) hearing regarding the proposed rescheduling of marijuana in the United States from a Schedule I to a Schedule III drug under the Controlled Substances Act (the "Rescheduling Hearing"). Village Farms was the only cannabis industry operator selected to participate in the Rescheduling Hearing, which is currently expected to take place sometime in January or February 2025.

President and Chief Executive Officer Michael DeGiglio commented, "As a U.S.-based company with 35 years of experience in controlled environment agriculture, we are proud to advocate for what we believe is one of the most important movements in health and wellness in our lifetime. The benefits of regulated cannabis are being increasingly embraced by other countries across the globe, many of which are doing so with pragmatic approaches that prioritize the well-being of people above politics and the power of special interests. It is long overdue for U.S. policymakers to accept the majority will of the American public and enact commonsense reform that fixes the broken system of criminalization we have today."

Village Farms' Global Cannabis General Counsel, Dr. John Harloe, will represent the Company as a selected witness at the Rescheduling Hearing. Dr. Harloe and Shane Pennington, who serves as external counsel to the Company as a partner at Porter Wright Morris & Arthur, LLP, share a common interest in advancing effective cannabis policy in the United States. Mr. Pennington has published extensively on topics related to administrative law and drug policy, including the private nondelegation doctrine, the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961, judicial deference to administrative agencies, and bureaucratic management and the limits of presidential power.