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.
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