Anti-Marijuana Group Rolls Out TV Ad Campaign Urging Trump Not To Reschedule Cannabis

A prominent marijuana prohibitionist group is rolling out a six-figure ad campaign directed at President Donald Trump, urging him not to move forward with cannabis rescheduling.

Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) Action is behind three 30-second TV ads that claim rescheduling would empower Chinese cartels, normalize marijuana use and undermine the administration’s “Make America Healthy” agenda.

The ads will air on Fox News and Fox Business Network—increasing the likelihood that they could catch Trump’s attention.

“Rescheduling is a cartel tax cut,” Kevin Sabet, president of SAM, said in a press release. “By removing marijuana from the reach of Section 280E, Washington would hand [Chinese Community Party]-backed cartels and Big Marijuana a taxpayer-subsidized path to dominate the market and target our kids, while giving Big Marijuana major tax breaks, further fueling an addiction-for-profit industry that targets our children and undermines federal law.”

The reference to Section 280E is about an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) code that has long precluded state-licensed cannabis businesses from taking federal tax deductions while marijuana remains a Schedule I drug. If the Biden administration-initiated process to moving cannabis to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) is completed, those businesses would be free to take those deductions.

Tell @POTUS, don’t hand a win to Mexican cartels and the Chinese Communist Party.

Illegal marijuana grows run by cartels, backed by CCP-linked actors, are flooding our communities.

Rescheduling marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III rewards them with tax breaks.

Tell Trump… pic.twitter.com/IA3hLoJQXC

— SAM (@learnaboutsam) July 30, 2025

Here’s a transcript of the three anti-rescheduling ads: 

“America faces a choice, and China is watching. Chinese drug cartels are already embedded in America’s marijuana trade, profiting while our biggest adversary destabilizes our communities. If activists get their way and reschedule marijuana, it hands China an advantage and harms American public health. Rescheduling marijuana would actually give cartels a tax break. President Trump, don’t reschedule marijuana. It’s not just domestic policy, it’s national security.”

“President Trump promised a new golden age for America, but rescheduling marijuana would threaten that promise by normalizing a drug that clouds minds and weakens communities. With its toxic impacts felt across our country—causing IQ loss, laziness, psychosis, even suicide—high potency weed damages hearts, minds and futures, especially for the young. President Trump, America needs a new golden age. Don’t let marijuana rescheduling tarnish it.”

“Washington says it’s working to make America healthy again. But while they debate red dye and food additives, they’re on the verge of normalizing something even worse. High-potency marijuana is triggering addiction, psychosis and impaired driving, especially in young people. Today’s so-called ‘legal marijuana’ is full of adulterants, pesticides and GMO ingredients. That’s not how we turn around the health epidemic in our country. Make America healthy again by facing the facts on weed. Don’t reschedule marijuana.”

President Trump promised a new golden age for America, but rescheduling marijuana would threaten that promise by normalizing a drug that clouds minds and weakens communities, with its toxic impacts felt across our country.

A golden age means stronger families, not cannabis… pic.twitter.com/IdqH07pi2t

— SAM (@learnaboutsam) July 30, 2025

Legalization advocates, of course, argue that enacting reform will undermine the illicit market, contrary to the message in the new SAM ads.

Despite SAM’s efforts to sound the alarm about what it claims are potential consequences of rescheduling, the reform push has been stalled for months. Former President Joe Biden’s U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recommended the policy change following a scientific review, but Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) hearings were suspended amid procedural disagreements between the parties.

While Terrence Cole—who was recently sworn as the new administrator of DEA—said during a confirmation hearing in April that examining the government’s pending marijuana rescheduling proposal would be “one of my first priorities” after taking office, the reform was not included in a list of initial priorities that the agency put out last week once he took office.

Ahead of Cole’s swearing-in last week, the Senate a day earlier gave final approval to the Trump nominee. Almost immediately afterward, a major marijuana industry association renewed the push to make progress on the long-stalled federal cannabis rescheduling process.

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In May, a Senate committee advanced the nomination of Cole to become DEA administrator amid the ongoing review of the marijuana rescheduling proposal that he has so far refused to commit to enacting.

Cole—who has previously voiced concerns about the dangers of marijuana and linked its use to higher suicide risk among youth—said in response to senators’ written questions at the time that he would “give the matter careful consideration after consulting with appropriate personnel within the Drug Enforcement Administration, familiarizing myself with the current status of the regulatory process, and reviewing all relevant information.”

Earlier this month, meanwhile, DEA again notified an agency judge that the marijuana rescheduling process remains stalled under the Trump administration.

It’s been six months since DEA Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) John Mulrooney temporarily paused hearings on a proposal to move cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) that was initiated under the Biden administration. And in a joint report to the judge submitted on Monday, DEA attorneys and rescheduling proponents said they’re still at an impasse.

For the time being, any action on the proposed rule to reschedule marijuana is evidently contingent on DEA Acting Administrator Robert Murphy. More likely, according to some, is that it will not move forward until a permanent DEA administration is confirmed.

Murphy’s appointment as acting administrator wasn’t widely publicized, but he’s replaced Derek Maltz—who subscribes to the “gateway drug” theory for marijuana—in the role.

DEA Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) John Mulrooney—who announced his retirement last week, leaving the rescheduling process entirely to Cole—initially agreed to delay the proceedings after several pro-reform parties requested a leave to file an interlocutory appeal amid allegations that certain DEA officials conspired with anti-rescheduling witnesses who were selected for the hearing.

Originally, hearings on the proposed rescheduling rule were set to commence on January 21, but those were cancelled when Mulrooney granted the appeal motion.

The appeal came after the judge denied a motion that sought DEA’s removal from the rescheduling proceedings altogether, arguing that it is improperly designated as the chief “proponent” of the proposed rule given the allegations of ex parte communications with anti-rescheduling witnesses that “resulted in an irrevocable taint” to the process.

Meanwhile, the Justice Department told a federal court in January that it should pause a lawsuit challenging DEA’s marijuana rescheduling process after Mulrooney canceled the hearings.

Also in January, Mulrooney condemned DEA over its “unprecedented and astonishing” defiance of a key directive related to evidence it is seeking to use in the marijuana rescheduling proposal.

At issue was DEA’s insistence on digitally submitting tens of thousands of public comments it received in response to the proposed rule to move cannabis to Schedule III.

Mulrooney hasn’t been shy about calling out DEA over various procedural missteps throughout this rescheduling process.

For example, in December he criticized the agency for making a critical “blunder” in its effort to issue subpoenas to force Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials to testify in hearings—but he allowed the agency to fix the error and ultimately granted the request.

Relatedly, a federal judge also dismissed a lawsuit seeking to compel DEA to turn over its communications with the anti-cannabis organization.

Mulrooney had separately denied a cannabis research company’s request to allow it to add a young medical marijuana patient and advocate as a witness in the upcoming rescheduling hearing.

Also, one of the nation’s leading marijuana industry associations asked the judge to clarify whether it will be afforded the opportunity to cross-examine DEA during the upcoming hearings on the cannabis rescheduling proposal.

Further, a coalition of health professionals that advocates for cannabis reform recently asked that the DEA judge halt future marijuana rescheduling hearings until a federal court is able to address a series of allegations they’re raising about the agency’s witness selection process.

Separately, the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday approved a spending bill that contains provisions to block the Justice Department from rescheduling marijuana.

The rescheduling proceedings have generated significant public interest. While moving marijuana to Schedule III wouldn’t federally legalize it, the reform would free up licensed cannabis businesses to take federal tax deductions and remove certain research barriers.

Meanwhile, two GOP senators introduced a bill in February that would continue to block marijuana businesses from taking federal tax deductions under Internal Revenue Service (IRS) code 280E—even if it’s ultimately rescheduled.

Beyond the hearing delays, another complicating factor is the change in leadership at DEA under the Trump administration.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was previously vocal about his support for legalizing cannabis, as well as psychedelics therapy. But during his Senate confirmation process in February, he said that he would defer to DEA on marijuana rescheduling in his new role.

Separately, former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) was reportedly photographed reviewing a document that appears to be a draft contract to provide services—including “administration-related guidance”—to a firm affiliated with the major marijuana company Trulieve. The visible portion of the document describes a lucrative bonus if a certain “matter resolves,” with an “additional ‘Super Success Fee’” for other “exclusive policy remedies.”

Last month, the former congressman reiterated his own support for rescheduling cannabis—suggesting in an interview with a Florida Republican lawmaker that the GOP could win more of the youth vote by embracing marijuana reform.

Gaetz also said in May that Trump’s endorsement of a Schedule III reclassification was essentially an attempt to shore up support among young voters rather than a sincere reflection of his personal views about cannabis.

A survey conducted by a GOP pollster affiliated with Trump that was released in April found that a majority of Republicans back a variety of cannabis reforms, including rescheduling. And, notably, they’re even more supportive of allowing states to legalize marijuana without federal interference compared to the average voter.

Trump picked former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi (R) to run DOJ, and the Senate confirmed that choice. During her confirmation hearings, Bondi declined to say how she planned to navigate key marijuana policy issues. And as state attorney general, she opposed efforts to legalize medical cannabis.

Amid the stalled marijuana rescheduling process that’s carried over from the last presidential administration, congressional researchers recently reiterated that lawmakers could enact the reform themselves with “greater speed and flexibility” if they so choose, while potentially avoiding judicial challenges.

A newly formed coalition of professional athletes and entertainers, led by retired boxer Mike Tyson, also sent a letter to Trump earlier this month—thanking him for past clemency actions while emphasizing the opportunity he has to best former President Joe Biden by rescheduling marijuana, expanding pardons and freeing up banking services for licensed cannabis businesses.

Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis // Side Pocket Images.