12/28/2025
Ma*****na rescheduling would bring some immediate changes, but others will take time
President Trump's long-anticipated executive order to loosen U.S. restrictions on ma*****na promises to bring immediate relief for cannabis businesses — but only in some respects. And although rescheduling it as a lower-risk drug is touted as opening a new era for cannabis research, experts say it's not as simple as flipping a light switch.
"It's hard to see the big headlines of, 'Ma*****na rescheduled to [Schedule] III; ma*****na research will open,'" says Gillian Schauer, executive director of the nonpartisan Cannabis Regulators Association, which includes agencies from 46 states. "You know, those things are not true as of now."
The time frame depends on which path the DOJ takes
Trump's order directs Attorney General Pam Bondi to "take all necessary steps to complete the rulemaking process related to rescheduling ma*****na to Schedule III" of the Controlled Substances Act "in the most expeditious manner in accordance with Federal law … "
The directive evokes the process that started under former President Joe Biden. Under his administration, both the Department of Health and Human Services and the Justice Department advanced a proposal to reclassify pot from Schedule I, meaning it has no medical use and a high potential for abuse, to the lower-risk Schedule III, which includes ketamine, Tylenol with codeine, and anabolic steroids.
The Trump administration could resume the process that was already underway under Biden. But the new executive order's mention of the Controlled Substances Act's Section 811 hints at a potential shortcut.
"That allows the attorney general to move a drug to whatever schedule they deem is best, without going through the usual steps that are needed to reschedule a drug," Schauer says.
The streamlined process was meant to ensure the U.S. can do things such as complying with international drug treaty obligations. But a historic precedent also links it to cannabis: In 2018, it was used to schedule the CBD epilepsy drug Epidiolex, months after it became the first U.S.-authorized purified medicine derived from ma*****na. The drug was placed in Schedule V, the least restrictive schedule.
President Trump set the process in motion to ease federal restrictions on ma*****na. But his order doesn't automatically revoke laws targeting ma*****na, which remains illegal to transport over state lines.
