Trump administration reclassifies marijuana, as public polls give mixed signals

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Trump administration reclassifies marijuana, as public polls give mixed signals

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The Trump administration is changing the way marijuana is regulated. In a major policy change, the government is reclassifying some marijuana, removing it from the Schedule I tier occupied by drugs such as heroin and LSD.

A Justice Department order Thursday launched the change, with an emphasis on state-sanctioned medical use. The administration is also moving toward accelerated reclassification of marijuana more broadly. A Drug Enforcement Administration hearing is scheduled for June 29.

Marijuana is still not legal under federal law, although 40 states and the District of Columbia allow its medical or recreational use. Now, because authorized medical marijuana is classified as a Schedule III substance, it will be subject to fewer regulations. And companies selling the product could be eligible for federal tax breaks.

Why we wrote this

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche signed an order reclassifying state-authorized medical marijuana as a less dangerous drug, following President Donald Trump’s call for a more “common sense” policy. But many Americans are increasingly skeptical about the drug’s effects on users and American society.

President Donald Trump has described his marijuana policy as a “common sense” approach to a drug that many Americans consider less harmful than alcohol. But some prominent leaders in the president’s own party disagree with the reclassification decision, and a slim majority of Americans surveyed by Gallup in 2024 said they believe marijuana harms most users and is detrimental to society as a whole. Opinions on the drug have become more negative compared to a poll taken in 2022, even as legal cannabis sales increased across the country.

At the same time, other recent polls find that most Americans support some form of legal marijuana use.

How a policy change happened

The reclassification, requested by Mr. Trump in December, comes days after the president signed an executive order directing federal agencies to ease restrictions on psychedelic drugs such as psilocybin and ibogaine. Influential podcaster Joe Rogan, an ibogaine supporter, personally lobbied the president to launch a review of the drug. At an executive signing ceremony in the Oval Office this month, Mr. Rogan recalled a text message from the president: “This looks great. Do you want FDA approval? Let’s do it.”

The change in marijuana’s status is a continuation of an initiative that began as a directive from President Joe Biden, whose 2019 election campaign platform included a call for cannabis decriminalization. In 2023, the Department of Health and Human Services proposed reclassifying marijuana as a Schedule III substance. The Justice Department officially decided to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug the following year. The DEA had reviewed public comments on the issue when Mr. Trump took office last year. In December, he signed an order aimed at speeding up that process.

The president said the move was a response to people seeking pain relief, but he added: “This does not legalize marijuana in any way, nor does it sanction its use as a recreational drug.” »

In response, 22 Republican senators and 26 GOP House members wrote letters to the president last year opposing the move.

The medical use debate

Kevin Sabet, executive director of the Foundation for Drug Policy Solutions and Smart Approaches to Marijuana, says the drug currently has no medical uses approved by the Food and Drug Administration, making using a Schedule III drug without a prescription unprecedented. The group he leads, which opposes the commercialization and legalization of marijuana as well as the incarceration of users, intends to challenge this reclassification in court. It is illegal to circumvent the DEA’s rulemaking process, Mr. Sabet says. He described the reclassification of marijuana as a “gift” to the marijuana industry.

“We must not allow an industry to copy tobacco giants as they are and use celebrities to advertise on highways,” says Sabet. “You’d think we would have learned from that.”

In signing the reclassification, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Justice Department is “delivering on President Trump’s promise to expand Americans’ access to medical treatment options,” with the move opening the door to more “research into the safety and effectiveness of this substance.”

Despite Americans’ reservations, only 12 percent of respondents in a Pew Research Center survey last year said no form of marijuana use should be legal. A third said medical use should only be legal (33%), and more than half (54%) supported legalizing medical and recreational use.

“Trump is trying to establish what is essentially an artificial distinction between medical and recreational,” says Alex Berenson, author of the 2019 book “Tell Your Children,” which posits that cannabis has serious psychiatric consequences in a small but significant minority of users and can lead to violent consequences.

“The worst part, actually, is that the way he’s done it will only add to the confusion. It’s a recreational drug, that’s all it ever was, that’s all it is today. If we want to legalize it, we should legalize it on that basis.”

Amid the tensions, a political gain for Trump?

Bryon Adinoff, president of Doctors for Drug Policy Reform, said in a statement that while the reclassification reduces barriers to cannabis research, it leaves “virtually all cannabinoid products illegal, except for a small number approved by the FDA as drugs.” Dr. Adinoff called for ending criminalization, allowing medical access to the drug, and treating cannabis as a public health issue, including research into its benefits and potential risks.