Marijuana Rescheduling Review Remains ‘Ongoing’ Three Months After Trump Announced Imminent Decision, White House Staffer Says

It’s been about three months since President Donald Trump said he’d be making a final decision on a pending marijuana rescheduling proposal within weeks—and a White House spokesperson tells Marijuana Moment that the process remains “ongoing.”

Amid contentious debates in Congress over a ban on most consumable hemp products that was signed by Trump on Wednesday, some have been left wondering what, if anything, the president’s support for that policy change means for the plan to move cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).

Asked about the issue, a White House spokesperson didn’t directly respond to reports about Trump’s hemp position but told Marijuana Moment on Wednesday that “there is a process ongoing regarding the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on rescheduling marijuana from May 2024 and all policy and legal requirements and implications are being considered.”

Trump endorsed rescheduling—as well as marijuana industry banking access and a Florida adult-use legalization initiative that ultimately failed—on the campaign trail ahead of his election to a second term. But when he was pressed on the status of the rescheduling process in mid-August, he was less clear about his personal stance.

The administration was “only looking at that” reform, and it’s too “early” to say how the issue will be decided, he said at the time, adding that “it’s a very complicated subject.”

“Some people like it. Some people hate it—people hate the whole concept of marijuana, because it does bad for the children [and] it does bad for people that are older than children,” the president said. “But we’re looking at reclassification, and we’ll make a determination over the next few weeks—and that determination, hopefully, will be the right one.”

“I’ve heard great things having to do with medical [cannabis], and I’ve heard bad things having to do with just about everything else,” Trump said. “But medical, for pain and various things, I’ve heard some pretty good things—but for other things, I’ve heard some pretty bad things.”

Meanwhile, top White House staffers under the Biden administration recently shed new light on the mass marijuana pardon and cannabis rescheduling process they helped facilitate, revealing the extent to which they were involved in broader clemency actions that are now under scrutiny by GOP leaders.

Also, as the marijuana rescheduling proposal awaits action, some GOP members of Congress have been urging Trump to move forward with the reform—with one lawmaker taking a jab at Biden by joking that it’s possible the prior administration “must have not been able to find the autopen in time” to complete the cannabis reform process it initiated.

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Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) told Marijuana Moment last month that it’s “extremely concerning the Trump administration continues to drag its feet” on a marijuana reform—including the pending cannabis rescheduling decision.

Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) separately told AskAPol in September that he feels that Trump advancing rescheduling would be an “important domino” to advance bipartisan cannabis banking legislation.

The senator, who is expected to be the lead sponsor of the legislation this Congress, previously said that the Secure and Fair Enforcement Regulation (SAFER) Banking Act would be taken up this fall.

Separately, the president last month posted a video on his Truth Social platform promoting the health benefits of cannabis—suggesting that covering CBD under Medicare would be “the most important senior health initiative of the century.”