In a press conference last week, President Trump told reporters, “we’re looking at reclassification and we’ll make a determination over the next, I would say, over the next few weeks.”
Trump added that rescheduling is “a very complicated subject,” and that “I’ve heard great things having to do with medical [cannabis], and I’ve had bad things having to do with just about everything else.”
This represents the first time Trump has publicly commented on rescheduling since he last voiced support for it during his presidential campaign in 2024. Since then, the issue of rescheduling has been stuck.
In September, Trump wrote in a Truth Social post that “I believe it is time to end needless arrests and incarcerations of adults for small amounts of marijuana for personal use. We must also implement smart regulations, while providing access for adults to safe, tested products.”
The decision on whether or not to reschedule ultimately lies with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). During his national hearing in April, current head of the DEA, Terrence Cole, said that reviewing the scheduling process will be one of his first priorities upon being confirmed.
“I need to understand more where they are and look at the science behind it and listen to the experts and really understand where they are in the process,” Cole said during the hearing.
Rescheduling cannabis to Schedule III would not legalize cannabis on the federal level, but it would remove the 280E tax code that restricts cannabis companies from deducting business expenses like employee salaries or maintenance from their taxes. For individual cannabis businesses, this will mean savings of hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions in taxes.
It is also expected that the move to Schedule III would make financial institutions more likely to lend money to cannabis businesses, not only because of their heightened profitability with the removal of 280E, but also by reducing the legal and financial risk of lending to state-licensed cannabis companies.
Reclassifying cannabis to Schedule III would confirm that the U.S. government recognizes marijuana’s medical use and relatively low potential for abuse. Schedule III substances that are FDA-approved can be prescribed by a physician and distributed by a DEA-registered entity.
The confirmation of the medical value of cannabis could also make it easier to carry out scientific research on canabis and remove some of the stigma surrounding cannabis in the healthcare community.
Optimism about rescheduling got a strong tailwind in August 2023, when a top official at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services sent a letter to then-DEA head Anne Milgram recommending that cannabis be reclassified from Schedule I to Schedule III.
The recommendation was based on "comprehensive scientific evaluation” according to an HHS spokesperson, specifically a US Food and Drug Administration review of cannabis classification. Among other findings, the review stated that cannabis has a potential for abuse less than other drugs that are Schedule I or II and has a currently accepted medical use (CAMU).
In September, a report from the Congressional Research Service stated that the DEA is likely to reschedule cannabis to Schedule III.
The researchers wrote that the DEA has testified that “it is bound by FDA’s recommendations on scientific and medical matters, and if past is prologue, it could be likely that DEA will reschedule marijuana according to HHS’s recommendation.”
In May 2024, the Justice Department submitted a proposal to reschedule marijuana, but the move has remained in limbo under the Trump administration.
“Schedule III is likely the best outcome that can be expected via an administrative reclassification process. While this rescheduling does not go far enough to reduce or remove criminal penalties or achieve other imminently needed reforms, incremental reform builds momentum with small steps. Full legalization is needed to ensure no one goes to jail for using marijuana, and comprehensive legislation is necessary to rectify the racial harms brought by the War on Drugs,” cannabis law firm Vicente LLP wrote last April.