Additionally, according to a Tom Angell Forbes report, the DEA will call for the quintupling of research-grade cannabis next year, from about 1,000 pounds in 2018 to more than 5,400 in 2019. Angell first reported this development on Thursday, citing a yet unpublished Federal Register filing set.

The pharmaceuticals specifically identified by the DEA were oxycodone, hydrocodone, oxymorphone, hydromorphone, morphine, and fentanyl. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and other DOJ officials said these reductions were a part of President Trump's plan to reduce opioid prescription rates by one-third in three years.

"We've lost too many lives to the opioid epidemic and families and communities suffer tragic consequences every day. This significant drop in prescriptions by doctors and DEA's production quota adjustment will continue to reduce the amount of drugs available for illicit diversion and abuse while ensuring that patients will continue to have access to proper medicine." — Uttam Dhillon, Acting Administrator for the DEA, in the press release