Trump’s Cannabis Rescheduling Order Was Just Smoke
- President Trump ordered the Department of Justice to fast-track the rescheduling of cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III to ease research restrictions and reduce regulatory burdens on cannabis businesses and consumers.
- Marijuana is currently classified as a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act, alongside substances like heroin and LSD, which makes research expensive and banking difficult for cannabis companies.
- The rescheduling process faces significant delays due to opposition within the administration and conservative groups, with experts warning the process could take years or even decades to complete.
- Historical rescheduling efforts, including a petition by NORML in 1972, demonstrate that such changes often take a very long time, underscoring the likelihood of a prolonged and drawn-out process ahead.
Even with an order to expedite the process, federal cannabis reform faces long delays and legal hurdles
In December, President Donald Trump directed the Department of Justice to fast-track the rescheduling of cannabis, a move that could open doors for research and cut red tape for businesses and consumers. Now the move is looking more like a public relations play than anything else, with opponents within the administration and the conservative movement gearing up for a fight as advocates for rescheduling say they expect it to take years — or decades — to resolve.
Under the Controlled Substances Act, enacted by former President Richard Nixon, drugs are sorted into five different categories or schedules based, at least theoretically, on the risk they pose for harm or addictiveness versus their potential for medical use. Schedule I drugs are the most tightly controlled and allegedly dangerous substances, including heroin, LSD and marijuana, whereas Schedule V drugs like Lyrica are seen as less harmful in the eyes of the government.
As it stands, marijuana extracts from the cannabis plant are lumped into Schedule I, which makes it incredibly complicated and expensive to study the drug and adds all sorts of other restrictions, such as preventing banks from working with cannabis companies. However, on December 18, Trump ordered that “The Attorney General shall take all necessary steps to complete the rulemaking process related to rescheduling marijuana to Schedule III of the CSA in the most expeditious manner.” This would, in theory, remove much of the red tape surrounding a plant-based drug that is enjoyed by nearly 20 million Americans regularly in states that have repealed anti-cannabis laws, conflicting with federal law.
The order drew headlines at a moment when Trump was escalating a military conflict with Venezuela and facing a fast-approaching deadline for the release of the Epstein files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, in which the president was named thousands of times. Now, however, it’s clear that, at least when it comes to this order, language like “most expeditious manner,” doesn’t necessarily mean that anything is changing anytime soon.
Paul Armentano, the deputy director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), a cannabis legal advocacy group, told Salon that he expects rescheduling to take years, or longer.
“I’ve been on the record for the last three years or so, making it very clear that this is designed to be a very long and drawn-out process,” Armentano said. “When you look back historically at previous rescheduling petitions, of which there have been numerous ones, they have all taken many years until they’ve reached their resolution. And in fact, the longest rescheduling petition, which was filed by NORML in 1972 was not resolved until 1994. So we’re talking a span of multiple decades from the initiation of that petition until its conclusion.”
Read the full article at Salon