Editor’s Note: High Times has long supported the removal of cannabis from Schedule I and ultimately federal descheduling. The following guest column reflects the legal analysis of the author and examines what current rescheduling efforts do (and do not) mean for today’s cannabis operators.
By Jason W. Klimek, partner and cannabis industry team co-leader at Harris Beach Murtha
When President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing the Attorney General to “expedite” the rescheduling of cannabis to Schedule III, the reaction was immediate. Headlines framed it as momentum. Markets reacted. Once again, expectations surged.
However, for cannabis companies operating today, the executive order does not change the law or rescheduling, and it does not alter the business reality on the ground.
The current rescheduling effort did not begin with Trump. It began in 2022, when the Biden administration asked the Department of Health and Human Services to review cannabis under the Controlled Substances Act. HHS completed that review in 2023 and recommended moving marijuana to Schedule III. Since then, the process has been with the Drug Enforcement Administration, which must complete a formal rulemaking before anything actually changes.
That rulemaking is still unfinished and now stalled. In early 2025, a federal judge suspended the DEA’s rescheduling hearings after a lawsuit alleged bias and conflicts of interest within the agency. Until that litigation is resolved, the process cannot meaningfully move forward. An executive order does not change that.
At most, the order signals political interest. It does not override federal statutes, cure procedural defects, or bypass the courts.
What This Executive Order Does Not Do
The biggest problem with the current coverage is imprecision. The executive order does not deliver any immediate legal relief to cannabis businesses, and it does not unlock the benefits many people assume come with Schedule III.
Author: High Times Contributors / High Times
