During his 2024 campaign, President Donald Trump indicated that he supported the Biden administration's plan to reclassify marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), saying "we will continue to focus on research to unlock the medical uses of marijuana [as] a Schedule 3 drug." Last August, Trump confirmed that his administration was "looking at reclassification," a move he reportedly discussed last week during a telephone call with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R–La.) that also included cannabis industry executives. The Washington Post reports that Trump is expected to issue an executive order that "directs federal agencies to pursue reclassification," which MJBizDaily says could happen this week.
Since 1970, marijuana has been listed in Schedule I of the CSA, a category supposedly reserved for substances with a high abuse potential and no accepted medical use—drugs so dangerous that they cannot be used safely even under a doctor's supervision. That classification has never made much sense, and moving marijuana to Schedule III, a category that includes prescription drugs such as ketamine, Tylenol with codeine, and anabolic steroids, would recognize that it does not meet the criteria for Schedule I. But the practical impact of rescheduling would be relatively modest.
