President Trump is weighing what could be the most significant shift in federal cannabis policy in decades, according to six sources familiar with internal discussions who spoke to the Washington Post. The president is expected to issue an executive order directing federal agencies to seek a change in how the drug is classified under federal law, moving it from the government's strictest category of controlled substances to a less restrictive tier.
In a phone call Wednesday with House Speaker Mike Johnson, Trump outlined the plan to pursue "rescheduling" marijuana rather than legalizing or decriminalizing it, several sources said. The move would seek to reclassify cannabis from Schedule I—where it currently sits alongside heroin and LSD—to Schedule III, a category that includes drugs such as Tylenol with codeine and some steroids and hormone treatments. That shift would not make marijuana legal nationwide, but it would ease barriers for medical research and could reduce tax and regulatory burdens for state-legal cannabis businesses. As Axios reports, Schedule I drugs are classified as having no medical use.
Trump, who said in August he was "looking at reclassification," would effectively be trying to complete an effort launched under President Biden. In 2023, federal health officials recommended downgrading marijuana to Schedule III, but the rulemaking process stalled at the Drug Enforcement Administration and an expected administrative hearing never took place. Trump cannot unilaterally rewrite the schedules, experts note, but he can order the Justice Department and DEA to move directly to a final rule and skip the pending hearing, potentially speeding up the process.
The Wednesday call, according to three people, also included marijuana industry executives, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services chief Mehmet Oz. Johnson reportedly argued against reclassification, citing studies and data he said underscored risks of the drug, while industry figures on the line pushed back. Trump ended the conversation sounding inclined to move forward, the sources said, though they emphasized that no final decision has been made and the White House publicly says the matter remains under review. If carried out, attorney Shane Pennington said, the change would mark "the biggest reform in federal cannabis policy since marijuana was made a Schedule I drug in the 1970s." A recent Gallup poll finds 64% of Americans favor legalizing cannabis.
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