On Thursday, President Donald Trump delivered on his promise to proceed with the reclassification of marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act, a long-awaited step that recognizes the drug does not meet the criteria for Schedule I, the law's most restrictive category, where it has been listed since 1970. Instead of starting over with a new regulatory review, Trump's executive order instructs Attorney General Pam Bondi to "complete the rulemaking process" that the Biden administration began last year "in the most expeditious manner" allowed by federal law.
Under a proposed rule that the Justice Department published in May 2024, marijuana would move from Schedule I, a category supposedly reserved for especially dangerous substances with a high abuse potential and no currently accepted medical applications, to Schedule III, which includes prescription drugs such as ketamine, anabolic steroids, and Tylenol with codeine. Trump presented that change as a boon to medical marijuana research with the ultimate aim of making cannabis-based medications legally available to patients who might benefit from them.
