By Brian Vicente
As the world waits for an announcement from the Trump Administration regarding rescheduling, alternatives arise. The path forward on federal marijuana policy may come from executive actions on anything from banking to Tribal sovereignty.
After a years-long process, the rescheduling of cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III under the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA) looks promising but remains uncertain.
As is true in most circumstances, understanding what comes next requires a clear picture of where we have been. So, how did we get to this point, and what’s next for cannabis under Trump?
Rescheduling: A Storied History and an Uncertain Future
It’s hard to believe, but rescheduling has been championed as a strong policy position for the federal government’s approach to marijuana for nearly three years now. Starting in October 2022 with an executive order by then-President Biden, the rescheduling process officially began with a mandate to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to review the classification of marijuana under federal law. Nearly a year later, the HHS officially recommended that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) reschedule marijuana from Schedule I under the CSA. By the beginning of summer 2024, the DEA had published a proposed rule and submitted it for public comment. Hearings were scheduled and participants were selected, but by January of this year, the entire process had halted indefinitely.
As of late August 2025, Trump publicly stated his administration was “looking at” rescheduling and would decide the issue within the coming weeks. In the time since, rumors have been swirling around how the Trump administration will approach cannabis policy. Even if the rescheduling efforts initiated during President Biden’s term end up perishing in the flames of partisan politics, this is not the end of the story …
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Author: High Times Contributors / High Times
