President Donald Trump issued his executive order on cannabis rescheduling in December, but Cannabis Business Times’ readers in January were most interested in knowing whether Congress would block his administration from following through.
After language aimed at stripping the Department of Justice’s power to reschedule marijuana was included in an earlier version of a government funding package in September, the U.S. House and Senate Appropriations committees released a bicameral package on Jan. 5 that removed the proposal from the final version of the fiscal year 2026 Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) and Related Agencies appropriations bill.
This was welcome news to cannabis industry stakeholders, who didn’t want to miss out on the specifics: It was CBT’s No. 1 most-read article this month.
Related to that storyline, U.S. Sens. James Lankford, R-Okla., and Ted Budd, R-N.C., attempted to reinsert the language to strip the executive branch’s authority to reclassify cannabis as a floor amendment on Jan. 13, but the chamber never took up the proposal.
“Rescheduling marijuana to a Schedule III substance and putting more money in the pockets of marijuana companies is a shortsighted policy decision that will have detrimental effects on the health and safety of Americans, especially our nation’s youth,” Budd said in December.
With Congress sending Trump the CJS appropriations package without the rescheduling language, the president’s order directing U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi to finish the process of loosening restrictions on cannabis remains in play.
Meanwhile, taking the No. 2 spot in this month’s most-read articles was an analysis comparing the average retail prices for cannabis flower in 11 state markets.
In the No. 3 and No. 4 spots were pieces on bipartisan lawmakers in the Senate and House introducing bills that would delay the federal government’s forthcoming ban on intoxicating hemp products for two years – until November 2028.
Rep. James Baird, R-Ind., indicated that his intentions for sponsoring the Hemp Planting Predictability Act in the House were focused on supporting American farmers.
“Planting and growing crops requires planning well in advance," he said. "Congress created a regulatory environment in the 2018 Farm Bill that allowed for certain investments, and farmers were operating within this environment. … Congress should have given farmers more time, creating a more stable environment for farmers to modify their future planting decisions.”
Don’t miss out on the rest of our Top 10 stories from January 2025.
