Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche signed an order Thursday reclassifying state-licensed medical marijuana as a less dangerous drug, a win for pro-cannabis groups that have sought to expand research and further alleviate the stigma for pot smokers.
The order shifts the designation of licensed medical marijuana from Schedule I, which is reserved for drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse, to the less strictly regulated Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act.
Medical or recreational use of marijuana is not federally legal under this action. It does, however, give a tax break to licensed medical marijuana operators and eases some barriers to researching the drug in part by alleviating penalties for cannabis researchers who obtain state-licensed marijuana or marijuana-derived products for use in their work.
“The Department of Justice is delivering on President Trump’s promise to expand Americans’ access to medical treatment options,” Mr. Blanche said in a statement. “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.
“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 healthcare decisions,” he said.
The change, although limited to medical marijuana, gives hope to marijuana advocates that full-scale legalization is drawing closer.
Paul Armentano, deputy director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said the move was a “historic shift.”
“The federal government had been hostile to the existence of these programs and had vehemently denied that cannabis possesses any legitimate therapeutic utility,” he told The Washington Times. He said the government has now made a 180-degree turn on this position.
He said the administration could now put “state-licensed medical marijuana into the federal regulatory scheme to oversee controlled substances.”
The federal government first cracked down on pot with the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, which the Supreme Court struck down in 1969. After that, the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 made marijuana illegal by classifying it as a Schedule I drug.
The movement to legalize marijuana first gained steam in the U.S. in the mid-1960s.
Medical marijuana is now legal in 40 states, and people can legally use marijuana recreationally in 24 states and the District of Columbia.
Proponents of medical marijuana cite the drug’s benefits, such as easing chronic pain and controlling nausea. Opponents dispute the drug’s medical benefits and argue that it is a psychoactive substance with adverse health effects.
Smart Approaches to Marijuana, which takes a skeptical view of medical marijuana, said it planned to sue over what it called an “illegal move” to reclassify the drug.
“The only thing today’s decision advances are the interests of an addiction-for-profit industry — and if the president isn’t going to use the Food and Drug Administration as the law requires, why doesn’t he simply abolish it?” the organization’s president, Kevin Sabet, said in a statement.
The organization said it also has learned that the president is urging Congress to reverse the federal ban on hemp intoxicants, mirroring his executive order on marijuana.
In December, Mr. Trump ordered federal agencies to work quickly to ease restrictions on marijuana and CBD research. On Saturday, he expressed frustration over the slow pace of the effort.
The move also initiates an expedited administrative hearing process to consider the broader rescheduling of marijuana’s status, scheduled for June 29.
The Biden administration kicked off efforts to reschedule marijuana in 2022. The Drug Enforcement Administration was in the review process when Mr. Trump returned to the White House in January 2025.
Now, the DEA is withdrawing the prior notice of a hearing because of a legal impasse and terminating those proceedings to “move more efficiently toward” redesignating the drug, the Justice Department said in a statement.
Schedule I substances include heroin and ecstasy. Those under Schedule III include ketamine, Tylenol with codeine, and testosterone.
The nontraditional approach to this process may raise many questions, Mr. Armentano said.
If the Trump administration does move to designate marijuana a Schedule III substance, it would not make the drug legal under federal law. It would leave various secondary impacts, including tax deductions for marijuana companies and potential changes in restrictions on marijuana users obtaining firearms and qualifying for the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s rental assistance programs.
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