Trump reclassifies state-licensed medical marijuana as a less-dangerous
drug in a historic shift
[April 24, 2026]
By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and GENE JOHNSON
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's acting attorney general on
Thursday signed an order reclassifying state-licensed medical marijuana
as a less-dangerous drug, a major policy shift long sought by advocates
who said cannabis should never have been treated like heroin by the
federal government.
The order signed by Todd Blanche does not legalize marijuana for medical
or recreational use under federal law. But it does change the way it's
regulated, shifting licensed medical marijuana from Schedule I —
reserved for drugs without medical use and with high potential for abuse
— to the less strictly regulated Schedule III. It also gives licensed
medical marijuana operators a major tax break and eases some barriers to
researching cannabis.
The Trump administration also said it was jump-starting the process for
reclassifying marijuana more broadly, setting a hearing to begin in late
June.
Trump told his administration in December to work as quickly as possible
to reclassify marijuana. On Saturday, as the Republican president signed
an unrelated executive order about psychedelics, he seemed to express
frustration that it was taking so long.
Blanche said Thursday that the Department of Justice was “delivering on
President Trump’s promise” to expand Americans’ access to medical
treatment options. “This rescheduling action allows for research on the
safety and efficacy of this substance, ultimately providing patients
with better care and doctors with more reliable information,” he said in
a statement.
What the marijuana reclassification order does
Blanche's action Iargely legitimizes medical marijuana programs in the
40 states that have adopted them. It sets up an expedited system for
state-licensed medical marijuana producers and distributors to register
with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
It makes clear that cannabis researchers won't be penalized for
obtaining state-licensed marijuana or marijuana-derived products for use
in their work, and it grants state-licensed medical marijuana companies
a windfall by allowing them, for the first time, to deduct business
expenses on their federal taxes.
Any marijuana-derived medicine approved by the Food and Drug
Administration is similarly listed in Schedule III, it said.
Since 2015, Congress has prohibited the Justice Department from using
its resources to shut down state-licensed medical marijuana systems. But
the order nevertheless represents a major policy shift for the U.S.
government, which has continued its longstanding marijuana prohibition —
dating to the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 — even as nearly all the states
have approved cannabis use in some form.
Two dozen states plus Washington, D.C., have authorized adult
recreational use of marijuana, 40 have medical marijuana systems, and
eight others allow low-THC cannabis or CBD oil for medical use. Only
Idaho and Kansas ban marijuana outright.
The regulation of medical marijuana has come a long way since California
became the first state to adopt it in 1996, Blanche wrote.
“Today the vast majority of States maintain comprehensive licensing
frameworks governing cultivation, processing, distribution, and
dispensing of marijuana for medical purposes,” Blanche wrote. “Taken as
a whole, they demonstrate a sustained capacity to achieve the
public-interest objectives ... including protecting public health and
safety and preventing the diversion of controlled substances into
illicit channels.”
[to top of second column]
|
President Donald Trump waves as he departs after an event for NCAA
national champions in the State Dining Room of the White House,
Tuesday, April 21, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
The president of the American Trade Association for Cannabis and
Hemp, Michael Bronstein, called it “the most significant federal
advancement in cannabis policy in over 50 years."
“This action recognizes what Americans have long known, cannabis is
medicine,” he said in a written statement.
Critic calls the order ‘a tax break to Big Weed’
The Trump administration’s decision drew derision from marijuana
legalization opponent Kevin Sabet, the chief executive of Smart
Approaches to Marijuana. Sabet said that while marijuana research is
necessary, "there are many ways to increase our knowledge without
giving a tax break to Big Weed and sending a confusing message about
marijuana’s harms to the American public.”
“With this move, we are now confronted with the most pro-drug
administration in our history,” Sabet said in a text message.
“Policy is now being dictated by marijuana CEOs, psychedelics
investors, and podcasters in active addiction."
Marijuana or marijuana-derived products that are not distributed
through a state medical marijuana program will continue to be
classified in Schedule I.
Schedule III drugs are defined as having moderate to low potential
for physical and psychological dependence. Some critics of the
industry have suggested that legalization in the states has led to
stronger and stronger cannabis products, which need to be researched
rather than categorized less strictly than before.
The efforts to reclassify marijuana
The Justice Department under President Joe Biden, a Democrat, had
proposed to reclassify marijuana, eliciting nearly 43,000 formal
public comments. The DEA was still in the review process when Trump
succeeded Biden, and Trump ordered that process to move along as
quickly as legally possible.
Blanche's order sidestepped the review process by relying on a
provision of federal law that allows the attorney general to
determine the appropriate classification for drugs that the U.S.
must regulate pursuant to an international treaty.
It was unclear how the order might affect operations in states where
licensed recreational marijuana shops also sell to medical patients.
In Washington state, which in 2012 became one of the first states to
legalize the adult use of marijuana, 302 of 460 licensed stores have
endorsements allowing them to sell tax-free cannabis products to
registered patients.
Many Republicans oppose loosening marijuana restrictions. More than
20 Republican senators, several of them staunch Trump allies, signed
a letter last year urging the president to keep the current
standards.
Trump has made his crusade against other drugs, especially fentanyl,
a feature of his second term, ordering U.S. military attacks on
Venezuelan and other boats the administration insists are ferrying
drugs. He signed another executive order declaring fentanyl a weapon
of mass destruction.
All contents © copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
