Republican Reps. Send Letter to U.S. Attorney General Opposing Cannabis Rescheduling 

Nine Republican members of Congress have sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bombi opposing rescheduling cannabis under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). In the letter, U.S. Reps. Pete Sessions (R-TX), Andy Harris (R-MD), Robert Aderholt (R-AL), Chip Roy (R-TX), Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Blake Moore (R-UT), Gary Palmer (R-AL), David Rouzer (R-NC), and Mary Miller (R-IL) said the move would deliver a multi-billion-dollar tax break to multistate cannabis companies and Chinese Communist Party-connected cartels.   

“Rescheduling marijuana is bad policy, no matter the administration. The data is clear: marijuana is a dangerous drug that has only become more dangerous over time. That is why I have spent my entire career in Congress opposing the rescheduling of marijuana. We must protect our children from predatory marijuana businesses that want to make them addicted consumers for life.” — Sessions, in a statement 

The letter alleges that “thousands of farms across the country are run by Chinese drug lords that grow marijuana and commit a host of other crimes” and that “cartels are making billions off the marijuana trade, and the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has found that many are state-licensed.” The allegation stems from an April 2024 Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control hearing during which a DEA official pointed to a quadruple murder at a state-licensed medical cannabis operation in Oklahoma that had obtained the license under false pretenses. During that hearing, William Kimbell, chief of operations for the DEA said the agency had “identified in 23 states that the Chinese organizations have taken over the cultivation of marijuana.”  

“Some of those are legitimate, some of those are illegitimate,” he said during his testimony. “The vast majority that we find working with our state and local counterparts are illegitimate. That means that some of the properties are bought with third party actors, but the people working and cultivating in those facilities are controlled and work at the behest of Chinese money laundering organizations.”  

In early August, President Donald Trump (R) reportedly told donors during a dinner fundraiser at his private club in Bedminster, New Jersey, that he is considering loosening federal cannabis restrictions. During an August 11 press conference, Trump said the Administration was “looking at reclassification” and would “make a determination over the next few weeks.”      

In 2024, during the Biden Administration, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended that cannabis be transferred from Schedule I to Schedule III of the CSA.