U.S. House lawmakers are once again attempting to strip an executive agency of its delegated powers to reschedule or deschedule cannabis under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).
The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) and Related Agencies approved a spending bill on July 15 that prevents the Department of Justice (DOJ) from using funds to reclassify cannabis from its Schedule I listing, where it sits alongside heroin, LSD and ecstasy.
The 154-page legislation, which now heads to the full committee for consideration, provides nearly $77 billion in discretionary allocations, including $37.3 billion to the DOJ. Of that DOJ allocation, $2.8 billion in direct appropriations would be provided to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) for salaries and expenses, according to a subcommittee summary.
While the CJS legislation encompasses law enforcement, economic trade, space exploration and other matters, the summary doesn’t mention cannabis. Also, the subcommittee’s members did not discuss the cannabis-related provisions during the hour-long markup on the bill, before voting, 9-6, to approve the underlying legislation.
However, the cannabis rescheduling provision is clear-cut:
SEC. 607. None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be used to reschedule marijuana (as such term is defined in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802)) or to remove marijuana from the schedules established under section 202 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 812).
Under the executive branch of government, the U.S. attorney general, currently Pam Bondi, has the unilateral authority to schedule, reschedule or decontrol drugs under the CSA; however, the attorney general has traditionally delegated this authority to the DEA since the agency’s establishment in 1973.
Congress also holds the authority to reschedule or deschedule cannabis through legislation, such as the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act, which passed twice in the U.S. House under the sponsorship of Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., in previous congresses.
This Congress, Ohio Republican Reps. Dave Joyce and Max Miller, along with Nevada Democratic Rep. Dina Titus, introduced the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States (STATES) 2.0 Act, which also intends to federally legalize cannabis by removing it from the CSA.
This legislative attempt comes as the House CJS bill is aiming to eliminate the executive branch from the cannabis rescheduling equation, despite a Biden-era proposed rule to move cannabis to Schedule III that remains in play.
Cannabis prohibitionist group Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) commended the subcommittee’s approval of the cannabis-related provisions.
“The House CJS Appropriations bill just passed with SAM-backed provisions blocking the federal rescheduling of marijuana and restoring DOJ power to go after medial [sic] marijuana dispensaries near schools, even in legal states,” the group wrote on X. “This is a major win for public health and safety.”
Although state-sanctioned cannabis programs already prohibit licensed businesses from dispensing cannabis near places like schools, day cares, playgrounds and public parks, the patchwork of U.S. legalization means states have varying buffer zones: Laws prohibiting dispensaries from being located within 1,000 feet of schools are common, which aligns with U.S. regulations for increased penalties for conducting business within that radius.
However, the CJS bill maintains an 11-year-old funding restriction that prevents the DOJ from using tax dollars to prosecute medical cannabis patients and state-licensed medical cannabis businesses. Congress has included the rider in each fiscal year since FY2015, which blocks the DOJ from interfering with states and territories that implement “their own laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession or cultivation of medical marijuana.”
The subcommittee’s move to maintain the longstanding rider in the FY2026 CJS bill comes after President Donald Trump’s budget request in June called for repealing it. However, that decision rests with Congress.
Aside from the cannabis-related provisions, the CJS appropriations bill supports myriad Trump administration mandates, from preventing the use of DOJ funds to pay for abortion to ending diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, and upholding prohibitions on funding for COVID vaccine and mask mandates.
The legislation also intends to combat transnational organized crime and reduce the availability of illicit drugs through funding the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces with $400 million, or 27% below the FY2025 enacted level.
Although the House Appropriations Committee also included the cannabis rescheduling language in the FY2025 CJS bill last year, it was ultimately defeated.
