{"id":8254,"date":"2025-12-12T22:12:32","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T22:12:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2025\/12\/12\/trump-reportedly-leaning-toward-reclassifying-marijuana-to-less-restricted-status-wbff\/"},"modified":"2025-12-12T22:12:32","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T22:12:32","slug":"trump-reportedly-leaning-toward-reclassifying-marijuana-to-less-restricted-status-wbff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2025\/12\/12\/trump-reportedly-leaning-toward-reclassifying-marijuana-to-less-restricted-status-wbff\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump reportedly leaning toward reclassifying marijuana to less restricted status – WBFF"},"content":{"rendered":"
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WASHINGTON (TNND) \u2014 <\/span>After more than 50 years of being classified as one of the most dangerous substances, marijuana may be rescheduled with fewer restrictions by the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

After more than 50 years of being classified as one of the most dangerous substances, marijuana may be rescheduled with fewer restrictions by the Trump administration. (TNND)<\/p>\n

As was first reported by the Washington Post, President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order directing the federal government to pursue reclassifying marijuana, currently a Schedule I drug, as a Schedule III drug, putting it in the same category<\/a> as substances like ketamine and testosterone.<\/p>\n

“(This) would mean research would be easier. It has all sorts of legal implications, but it still would be controlled, meaning it wouldn\u2019t be treated like something you could get at the grocery store,” said Douglas Berman, executive director of the Drug Enforcement and Policy Center at Ohio State University’s Moritz College of Law. <\/p>\n

Like marijuana, heroin is also classified as a Schedule I drug. Ranked as less dangerous and under fewer restrictions than a Schedule II drug are cocaine, fentanyl, and methamphetamine. <\/p>\n

The American public’s views on marijuana have evolved a lot since the days of Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No” campaign<\/a>. Every state except Idaho and Kansas has legalized marijuana or some type of cannabis product<\/a> for medical or recreational use, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Nearly two-thirds of Americans think marijuana use should be legal, according to a recent Gallup poll. However, support has fallen slightly over the past two years, according to Gallup, driven by Republicans, whose support dropped 13 points over the past year. <\/p>\n

Rescheduling a drug is different than descheduling, Berman said, so criminal marijuana cases wouldn’t be impacted. <\/p>\n

“It would still be subject to all the controls, all the legality if you\u2019re not doing it by the rules,” Berman said. <\/p>\n

During the 2024 election, Trump said he’d support research on the medical benefits of marijuana and that individuals should not be arrested or incarcerated for small amounts of marijuana for personal use. Trump also supported a proposed amendment to the Florida constitution that would have legalized recreational use for adults 21 and older. The amendment ultimately failed. <\/p>\n

Rescheduling a drug isn’t something a president can do unilaterally. The legal process ends with final approval from the Drug Enforcement Administration. That’s where things could get tricky within the Trump administration. <\/p>\n

Trump’s hand-picked DEA Administrator Terry Cole has a long history of opposing moves to loosen restrictions on marijuana. During his confirmation process earlier this year, he declined to commit to continuing Biden administration efforts to reschedule marijuana. <\/p>\n

In a LinkedIn post last year, Cole wrote, \u201cEverybody knows my stance on marijuana after 30 plus years in law enforcement, so don\u2019t even ask! #justsayno #disorders #notlegal4distribution #healthissues #thinblueline #backtheblue.” <\/p>\n

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson also has a long history of opposing pro-cannabis legislation. According to the Washington Post, during a Wednesday Oval Office meeting between Trump, marijuana industry leaders, and other administration health officials, Johnson, who was phoned in, expressed his skepticism about reclassifying the drug. <\/p>\n

“Trump then turned the phone over to the executives gathered around his desk, who rebutted Johnson\u2019s arguments,” the Washington Post reported, citing people familiar with the discussions. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere are real public health concerns, both with respect to the growing evidence that marijuana use while your brain is still developing for people under 25 seems to have the potential for lots of bad impacts and just more generally, that there are players at the margins of this industry that are likely to push for more dangerous products, higher THC levels, things that again, public health research suggests could become quite harmful to basic public health,” Berman said. <\/p>\n

Even in states where marijuana has been legalized, dispensaries have struggled to run efficiently, in part because banks refuse to do business with them. Berman said rescheduling marijuana<\/a> could make bankers feel more comfortable.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the biggest benefit rescheduling could bring to the industry is through tax policy. Currently, dispensaries cannot deduct business expenses. <\/p>\n

“That\u2019s why the industry players care so much about, not just rescheduling, but scheduling to three rather than say, Schedule II. Because it\u2019s only because it\u2019s Schedule III that these tax consequences that would benefit the marijuana industry would kick in,” Berman said. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (TNND) \u2014 After more than 50 years of being classified as one of the most dangerous substances, marijuana may be rescheduled with fewer restrictions by the Trump administration. After more than 50 years of being classified as one of the most dangerous substances, marijuana may be rescheduled with fewer restrictions by the Trump administration. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8255,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8254\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}