The Trump administration has stalled in its effort to determine whether to reclassify marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule III drug, a new filing by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in an administrative law hearing acknowledges.
“This doesn’t constitute a new delay of rescheduling’s consideration, which has been stalled out for months after legal challenges to the administrative process were raised during prior proceedings,” wrote reporter Kyle Jaeger for online publication, Marijuana Moment on October 7. “But it does signal that there hasn’t been substantive movement between the parties with respect to the interlocutory appeal.”
A hearing on reclassifying marijuana was scheduled to begin on January 21, 2025 but two days later, the administrative law judge for the hearing postponed it while an appeal by an involved party is resolved.
Called ‘a Very Complicated Subject’
In an August 6 news conference, Trump said reclassification is “a very complicated subject” and that he had “heard great things” about medical marijuana but “bad things” about other uses.
In November, in a news conference, Trump said he supported Florida’s medical marijuana ballot proposal and that he would “continue to focus on research to unlock medical uses of marijuana to a schedule 3 drug, and work with Congress to pass commonsense laws.”
As a Schedule I drug, marijuana is in the same category as heroin and PRP. As a Schedule III drug, cannabis businesses would no longer face certain tax penalties and would have better access to banking and investment capital.
High Abuse Potential Cited
On August 28, nine members of Congress wrote a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, copied to Trump, urging her to not reschedule marijuana to a Schedule III drug.
“Rescheduling marijuana would send a message to kids that marijuana is not harmful and allow Big Marijuana and foreign drug cartels to get billions per year in federal tax breaks,” the nine Republican representatives wrote.
The effort to reclassify marijuana began under the Biden administration in 2024. A proposed rule generated 40,000 comments, and 11 state attorneys general spoke out against the change in a 40-page letter. The drug schedule is not a “harm index” but a measure of potential abuse, the legislators wrote.
“Marijuana’s potential for abuse is high; the addiction rate is a staggering 30%,” states the letter. “One study suggests that as many as 30% of schizophrenia cases in young men might have been prevented if they had not abused marijuana. Another study found a clear association between marijuana use and psychosis, anxiety, cognitive failures, respiratory adverse events, cancer, cardiovascular outcomes and gastrointestinal disorders. Other research on the effects of marijuana found that marijuana use elevates the risk of heart attack and stroke by 25% and 42%, respectively.”
Growing Use Identified
Marijuana use has skyrocketed, the legislators write.
“In 1992, fewer than one million Americans used marijuana daily, states the letter. “In 2022, close to 18 million were daily users, outpacing daily alcohol use rates.”
“Before changing the schedule classification, there should be a nonpartisan review of states that have legalized marijuana, to learn how outcomes and usage rates have changed,” said Chad Savage, M.D., founder of YourChoice Direct Care and president of DPC Action.
Reading the tea leaves on where Trump stands on marijuana has been difficult, says John Dale Dunn, M.D., J.D., an emergency medicine physician in Texas.
“He is an alpha male and has all the characteristics, including an excess of ego and aggressive control characteristics that are sometimes balanced by his tendency to listen,” said Dunn.
“I would say he needs to be concerned about the law-and-order implications of creating a segment of the population that is intoxicated a good share of the time,” said Dunn. “Look at the turn for the worse in places that loosened up marijuana access, like Colorado: intoxicated drivers, street thugs juiced up and violent. Congress needs to get up and get noisy—he’s listening too much to the stoner intellectuals.”
Violence and Persistence Noted
Trump should also be mindful of what is happening on American streets today, says Dunn.
“Lots of evidence that modern THC [the psychoactive compound in marijuana] is much more potent and intoxicating than the Jefferson Airplane/Grateful Dead days of the 60s, and it has a role in violent conduct that is becoming more apparent,” said Dunn. “THC amplifies the intoxication for multi-drug abusers. Also, THC is a long-acting thing. It sticks around because it goes into [the user’s] fat, so the potency effects are around for more than a few hours; they linger.”
Recent reports show marijuana is becoming more popular than wine, beer, and spirits, says Dunn.
“The is nothing mysterious about it, as there is a lot of history in a culture that has multigenerational THC use, and they will, of course, always claim that THC is a preferred intoxicant to alcohol,” said Dunn.
“This new stuff has a greater psych effect and is an invitation to more crime, violence, and use of stronger drugs of abuse, [which are] psych triggers like schizoaffective and schizophrenia,” said Dunn. “The worst part is the half-life problem of THC. Use it tonight and you’ll still feel it tomorrow.”
AnneMarie Schieber ([email protected]) is the managing editor of Health Care News.
AnneMarie Schieber is a research fellow at The Heartland Institute and managing editor of Health Care News, Heartland’s monthly newspaper for health care reform.
