Report: Trump Told Provide Donors He Is Considering Rescheduling Cannabis

President Donald Trump (R) said during a dinner fundraiser at his private club in Bedminster, New Jersey, that he is considering loosening federal cannabis restrictions, the Wall Street Journal reports.

It’s the first real signal from the second Trump administration that, after months of inaction except for some drug war-era rhetoric, its campaign promise to address federal cannabis policies hasn’t been forgotten.

Two individuals who attended the $1-million-per-plate fundraiser told CNN that when asked about loosening federal cannabis restrictions, the president said, “We need to look at that. That’s something we’re going to look at.”

Currently, a significant majority of Americans live in jurisdictions with some form of legal access to cannabis, but the plant remains a Schedule I substance under the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA). The top of the federal drug schedule, however, is supposed to be reserved for “drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.”

Despite the vast majority of Americans living in jurisdictions with some form of legal access to cannabis, the plant remains a Schedule I substance under the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA).

Formally announced by former President Joe Biden (D) last May, the move to reschedule cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III stalled in January when DEA Administrative Law Judge John Mulrooney, who was tasked with overseeing the hearings, decided to let the incoming administration decide whether to reinitiate the process. The judge recently retired, however, leaving the issue solely with the new DEA Administrator, Terrance Cole.

Cole told senators during his confirmation hearings that he would consider the cannabis schedule a priority if confirmed, but then he failed to mention the rescheduling process when outlining the agency’s top eight priorities at the start of his tenure.