can't the Executive reschedule whatever it wants unilaterally? I know the DEA has authority to add substances to Sched I, and they add a couple dozen every year.
I've no doubt that Obama wouldn't do it. I'm pointing out his hypocrisy about "working with Congress" to reschedule marijuana -- meanwhile the Obama DEA has unilaterally placed dozens of drugs in Sched I, and will continue to.
How exactly does the DEA place drugs in a certain schedule? DOC, 2-ce, and 4-aco are all, as far as I'm aware, unscheduled, but they all have Wikipedia pages, reports on erowid, etc. so it's not like they're that obscure...
they move slow as molasses. why, I don't know. the bane of all bureaucracies I suppose. a hot new RC will last 2-3 years before it is "emergency" placed on Sched I. on some things they don't move at all -- the diazepine analog market is a case in point, there are a million of them, have existed for a long time, and aren't even listed as "drugs of concern".
sometimes the FTC places an import ban on stuff, but even then they only capture a fraction of what comes in. kratom is in the process of being banned -- a few states have banned it, Florida is moving on it, there's an import ban, and it's a DEA "drug of concern". get it while you can.
