President Donald Trump’s choices over his first 50 days in office, including appointments to lead the federal drug and health agencies, are sowing serious doubts that marijuana’s status under federal law will change anytime soon.
That’s the gloomy vibe lurking outside the U.S. Capitol and seeping into C-suites as the marijuana rescheduling process – begun in October 2022 by former President Joe Biden and put on indefinite hiatus in January – remains stuck in limbo.
For those remaining hopeful, the belief is that the Trump administration might do something before the end of the year.
But skeptics wonder if the administration will simply cancel the process to downgrade marijuana from Schedule 1 to Schedule 3 of the Controlled Substances Act.
All in all, “so far, the actions of this administration have not matched President Trump’s previous rhetoric in support of cannabis rescheduling,” U.S. Rep. Dina Titus, a Nevada Democrat and co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, told MJBizDaily.
Public, private opinions vary on rescheduling future
Despite near-constant victories in individual states – with some recent exceptions – the federal marijuana policy reforms that many companies say are vital to achieve profitability remain elusive.
Most executives and operators in the $32 billion regulated U.S. marijuana industry present a brave face in public despite acknowledging privately that the tax relief provided by moving reclassifying marijuana won’t happen anytime soon.
Washington lobbyists are nevertheless holding the line: Trump endorsed both adult-use legalization in Florida and federal rescheduling during the 2024 campaign, and there’s no reason to believe the president has changed his mind.
“We are still taking the same policy position as we have since the election: The president has clearly stated his support for cannabis reform, for rescheduling, for banking access and for states’ rights,” David Culver, the senior vice president for public policy at the US Cannabis Roundtable, a major D.C. lobbying group, told MJBizDaily in an interview.
“We have every expectation that he’ll follow through with his commitments.”
It does appear the cannabis industry has more access to the White House than ever before.
For example, Cresco Labs CEO Charles Bachtell and Trulieve Cannabis CEO Kim Rivers both attended Trump’s inaugural ball.
That’s a much closer tie than anyone in the cannabis space apparently had with the Biden administration.
But skepticism that rescheduling will resume – or, if it does, yield a helpful outcome – is more and more widely held, other lobbyists and observers told MJBizDaily.
And they are also creeping into public discourse.
‘Hard to think anything will … change’
Perhaps the most prominent voice so far is Ben Kovler, CEO of major multistate operator Green Thumb Industries, who said during a Feb. 26 earnings call that “at the moment, it’s hard to think anything will fundamentally change” at the federal level.
Green Thumb representatives did not respond to an MJBizDaily request for a follow-up comment.
But the company’s prognosis – “not a popular opinion,” Kovler said – is based on public data points such as Trump’s appointments, including Terrance Cole, a longtime Drug Enforcement Administration official and marijuana skeptic, to lead the agency.
Cole’s most recent role, observers note, was serving as Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s secretary of public safety.
Virginia is notable for being the only state to have legalized adult-use marijuana without approving a retail market.
Critics told MJBizDaily they hear Cole’s voice in Youngkin’s public statements as he vetoes bills that would have regulated sales, and they wonder if Trump might take similar cues from his top drug cop, if Cole is confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
Other negative signs include a flip-flop on marijuana reform by new Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
After voicing support for cannabis during his failed presidential bid, Kennedy told senators during his confirmation hearings that he’d defer to an apparently hostile DEA on the matter, while separately promising anti-marijuana Republican lawmakers that he’ll study the “risk” of high-THC products.
However, marijuana rescheduling could become a distant fading memory if one factors in:
Recent hostile acts toward cannabis research.
Trump’s Truth Social post in September in which he endorsed medical cannabis and rescheduling marijuana, thereby offering hope for tax relief for regulated businesses and more reform.
Art of the rescheduling deal
Regardless of their overall outlook, the attorneys, lobbyists, and industry figures contacted by MJBizDaily all stressed that it’s still early days for the Trump White House and that nobody seriously expected significant movement immediately.
“We certainly knew the first 100 days (of Trump’s second term) would not be our window” to secure commitments, let alone tangible reform, said Shanita Penny, the executive director of the Coalition for Cannabis Policy, Education and Regulation (CPEAR), a Washington, D.C., lobbying group.
“I think folks are stepping into the reality that this is not going to be the quick win some boasted,” she added.
“They’re finally understanding this is going to be a very, very slow process at best.”
One angle some advocates want to pitch to an administration seemingly bent on dismantling the Biden camp’s accomplishments is for Trump to serve as a corrective.
Under Biden, the DEA appears to have gone rogue:
As documents from the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel released last spring show, the agency argued internally against Health and Human Services’ finding that cannabis has a currently accepted medical use in the United States.
In the months leading up to the highly anticipated rescheduling hearing, critics say the DEA stacked the witness list for the hearings with legalization opponents to ensure the preferred outcome: the status quo.
This presents a twofold opportunity tailor-made to appeal to Trump: Do something popular, something the “corrupt” Biden administration would not.
Question of priorities remains
Trump’s style of governing also could work in the cannabis industry’s favor.
In the past, most constitutional scholars agreed that the administrative process Biden launched is how the executive branch could bypass Congress and reclassify cannabis.
But in the unpredictable, gloves-off Trump era, rescheduling marijuana – or removing it entirely from the Controlled Substances Act’s list – via an executive order is another option.
However, that presupposes marijuana ever makes it onto a Trump to-do list.
“It was always going to be a two- to three-year administrative rescheduling process, and that was without changing presidential parties,” said Charlie Panfil, vice president at The Daschle Group, which lobbies on behalf of legal marijuana companies in Washington, D.C.
“The reality here is the only way to get to a true regulated cannabis market is through Congress.”
“With everything else that’s going on in the world, I don’t know if cannabis is a high enough priority for Trump,” added Cat Packer, the director of drug markets and legal regulation at the New York-based Drug Policy Alliance.
“It’s definitely not a high enough priority for the Republican Party.”
H/T: mjbizdaily.com
