Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche signed an order Thursday reclassifying state-licensed medical marijuana as a less dangerous drug, changing a policy that for decades hampered research into the drug’s potential medicinal benefits.
Blanche’s order does not legalize recreational use under federal law. Instead, it moves licensed medical marijuana from Schedule I — which encompasses the most restricted drugs like heroin and ecstasy — to Schedule III, the same category as some prescription drugs like ketamine and Tylenol with codeine.
The order also grants tax exemptions to licensed medical marijuana sellers and relaxes some restrictions on research into its effects.
“These actions will enable more targeted and rigorous research into the safety and effectiveness of marijuana, expanding patient access to treatments and empowering doctors to make better-informed health decisions,” Blanche wrote in a social media post about marijuana.
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will also hold administrative hearings before a judge on the reclassification of marijuana more broadly, Blanche said.
The attempt to downgrade marijuana has been discussed and attempted by several administrations, but none have been successful in finalizing a regulation. Former President Joe Biden began a new attempt in the final year of his term, but it was not completed before he left office.
Critics attributed the slowness of the process to the reluctance of then-DEA administrator Anne Milgram. The rulemaking had also been scheduled for administrative hearings before Biden’s term ended, but was suspended indefinitely by the DEA’s chief judge.
In a , President Donald Trump ordered the Justice Department to speed up the process and approve Biden’s proposed rule change.
But there was little public movement in the following months, and advocates for loosening regulations were frustrated.
Trump himself appeared to express frustration with the delay over the weekend, telling podcaster Joe Rogan, an advocate for marijuana rescheduling, at an Oval Office event that “they’re stringing me along.”
Sources told CNN that the White House and the Department of Justice have also faced increasing pressure from the cannabis industry to approve the change in the substance’s classification.
While a plan to move forward with the measure was being finalized, some in the department had hoped to publicize their efforts on April 20 — a day of celebration for marijuana enthusiasts — but were told it would be inappropriate, two sources familiar with the discussions said.
Now the renewed effort will likely face swift legal challenges from critics who say the reclassification could encourage recreational use of a harmful drug.
The organization Smart Approaches to Marijuana, which opposes the legalization of marijuana, said in a statement that it would take immediate legal action against the order.
“The only thing today’s decision advances are the interests of an industry that seeks to profit from addiction — and if the president won’t use the Food and Drug Administration as the law requires, why doesn’t he simply abolish it?”
Still, the easing of restrictions around marijuana is widely popular. A 2024 Pew Research Center poll found that nearly six in ten Americans support legalizing cannabis for recreational use.
Kim Rivers, CEO of cannabis company Trulieve, thanked Trump and Blanche for “delivering” on their promise to reschedule cannabis.
“The two-pronged approach, which utilizes both the treaty and the regulatory process, ensures that the rescheduling of medical cannabis occurs quickly and completely, and is an unequivocal statement of the president’s commitment to honoring his campaign promise,” he said.
