Reports first surfaced last week that President Trump told a room full of private donors that his administration was entertaining the idea of pushing forward on a proposal to reclassify cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act. Then yesterday, President Trump acknowledged such a plan was under consideration but is likely not as far along as many in the industry would like. “We’re only looking at that. That’s early.” The president went on to say: “Some people like it. Some people hate it.” “Some people hate the whole concept of marijuana because it does bad for the children; it does bad for people that are older than children. But we’re looking at reclassification, and we’ll make a determination over the next, I would say, over the next few weeks, and that determination hopefully will be the right one.” Despite those cautionary words, the cannabis industry was abuzz with excitement and anticipation yesterday. But is there really a reason for all of this excitement?
For at least half a decade now, Washington has been the proverbial Lucy with the football while the cannabis industry has been the ever-eager Charlie Brown just hoping the next time will be different. There has been the Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States (STATES) Act, the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (“MORE”) Act, the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity (CAOA) Act, the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act, the Preparing Regulators Effectively for a Post-Prohibition Adult-Use Regulated Environment (PREPARE) Act, and the Small Business Tax Equity (SBTE) Act, and mumblings of rescheduling with no results. Indeed, even President Trump’s latest comments make it very clear that rescheduling is far from a done deal because “some people hate it.” While rescheduling would be a much-needed jolt for the industry, a more tempered wait-and-see approach is likely more appropriate given cannabis’s lack of success in Washington in recent years. Such an approach is even more appropriate here, where the rescheduling efforts still have a long road ahead.
The current proposal to reclassify cannabis was actually initiated under President Biden, but it stalled in January when a now-retired administrative law judge granted an interlocutory appeal of certain decisions related to the DEA’s pre-hearing conduct. That appeal is now in front of the DEA’s new administrator, Terrance Cole, who was just confirmed last month. Somewhat concerning is that Cole has previously stated that his cannabis policy is consistent with Nancy Reagan’s “just say no” drug campaigns of the late ‘80s. However, given President Trump’s willingness to axe cabinet members who act independently of his preferred course of action, it would seem that if President Trump wants rescheduling to happen, he will likely get it done. We are just not sure that is actually what the president wants, and his comments yesterday seem to confirm that he has not made up his mind on the issue.
This is a developing story, and there will likely be additional details coming out over the next few days and weeks regarding rescheduling cannabis. Be sure to follow our blog for more information on all cannabis developments at the federal level.