The Trump administration confirmed on April 23 that the Department of Justice (DOJ) is moving forward to reclassify cannabis as a less dangerous drug and recognize its medical use in the United States, advancing toward what has been a decades-long battle for reform.
President Donald Trump’s Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced Thursday morning that he plans to “immediately” reschedule FDA-approved cannabis and state-licensed medical cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III, while also ordering a “new expedited hearing with set deadlines, to fully reschedule marijuana.”
The "immediate" portion of Blanche's signed order falls under the United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs treaty, allowing state-licensed medical cannabis to be reclassified.
“These actions will enable more targeted, rigorous research into marijuana’s safety and efficacy, expanding patients’ access to treatments and empowering doctors to make better-informed health care decisions," Blanche said.
The move to reclassify the plant, from a Schedule I to Schedule III drug under the Controlled Substances Act, comes four months after Trump issued an executive order directing the U.S. attorney general – formerly Pam Bondi, whom Trump ousted on April 2 – to take “all necessary steps” to complete the rulemaking process in the “most expeditious manner.”
After Trump removed Bondi, Blanche stepped in to serve as the acting attorney general. In that role, he holds the power to schedule, reschedule or decontrol drugs, or to assign those duties to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
While Blanche said he plans to deliver on Trump’s promise to “improve” American health care through “immediately” rescheduling cannabis, his announcement of a “new, expedited hearing” may appear somewhat contradictory. The DOJ could have decided to cancel the hearing process, going straight to a final rule, but that pathway wouldn’t have been as legally sound, some argue.
The new hearing under the DEA, which is set to begin on June 29, “will provide a timely and legally compliant pathway to evaluate broader changes to marijuana’s status under federal law,” according to the DOJ. Blanche signed the hearing notice, explaining that the DEA will complete the proposed cannabis rescheduling rule from President Joe Biden’s administration, published on May 21, 2024, in the “most expeditious manner,” per Trump’s order.
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DEA Administrator Terry Cole confirmed that the DEA’s actions in the hearing process will be done in that manner.
“Under the direction of President Trump and Acting Attorney General Blanche, DEA is expeditiously moving forward with the administrative hearing process – bringing consistency and oversight to an area that has lacked both,” Cole said. “Our men and women in law enforcement remain committed to fighting drug cartels, the fentanyl epidemic and protecting American lives.”
The hearing process will conclude no later than July 15, 2026, according to the notice that Blanche signed on Thursday.
While an administrative law judge hearing was initiated under the Biden administration to allow anti- and pro-rescheduling parties to debate the merits of the Schedule III proposed rule, retired Judge John J. Mulrooney granted an interlocutory appeal in January 2025, staying the hearing process after pro-rescheduling parties accused Biden’s DEA of improper communications with anti-rescheduling parties.
Now, more than 15 months later, Blanche effectively canceled that Biden-era hearing process. Instead, Trump's DEA issued a new notice of hearing on the proposed rule and “is committed to accelerating the rulemaking process from this point forward,” according to the Blanche-signed notice.
This commitment marks a key turning point in the fight for reform that spans multiple generations.
Loosening restrictions on cannabis by lowering its potential for dependence and abuse in the eyes of the federal government is a monumental policy shift that breaks ties with 55 years of precedence: The plant has been listed alongside heroin, LSD and ecstasy in the most restrictive schedule since President Richard Nixon signed the CSA into law in 1970.
While a Schedule III listing would not federally legalize cannabis nor allow interstate commerce, it would further legitimize state-sanctioned cannabis businesses by eliminating the punitive drug-trafficking tax burdens under Section 280E of the Internal Revenue Code.
Eliminating the 280E tax burden represents billions in savings for licensed cannabis businesses. And these savings could potentially become retroactive: Tucked into Blanche's signed order, it states: "The Administrator encourages the Secretary of the Treasury to consider providing retrospective relief from Section 280E liability for taxable years in which a state licensee operated under a state medical marijuana license."
More broadly, acknowledging cannabis has currently accepted medical use by removing it from Schedule I carries an array of possibilities, from easing constraints on scientific and medical research to prompting more states to legalize and more widespread banking access – although none of these possibilities are guaranteed by rescheduling alone.
Following the new, expedited hearing process, the DOJ could issue a final rule as soon as July in the Federal Register, where it would need to be published for at least 30 days, or potentially up to 90 days if it’s considered a “major rule” under the Congressional Review Act, which it likely would be, before it could take effect.
During that window, anti-rescheduling parties, such as Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM), could sue in an attempt to block the Schedule III rule from becoming effective, which the prohibitionist organization indicated it would likely do after retaining former Attorney General Bill Barr as its attorney. SAM could seek a temporary restraining order or a preliminary injunction to hold up the effective date.
Regardless, Trump’s administration is now on the move.
“The Department of Justice is delivering on President Trump’s promise to expand Americans’ access to medical treatment options,” Blanche said. “This rescheduling action allows for research on the safety and efficacy of this substance, ultimately providing patients with better care and doctors with more reliable information.”
