Marijuana Rescheduling Review Remains ‘Ongoing’ Three Months After Trump Announced Imminent Decision, White House Staffer Says
Marijuana rescheduling decision. It sounds clinical, bureaucratic, the kind of phrase you hear under fluorescent lights while a clock ticks and coffee goes cold. But out here, where dispensary managers juggle payrolls and growers eye the sky for mold, it’s the difference between a real, workable cannabis market and another season of limbo. The White House says the review is still “ongoing,” months after a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in May 2024 put cannabis on a path from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act. That move would pry 280E tax shackles off licensed operators, nudge insurance and research through the door, and signal that federal marijuana policy reform isn’t just a campaign trail mirage. Until the ink dries, though, the Michigan budtender, the Oregon cultivator, and the Florida would-be investor are all living the same Groundhog Day: waiting, watching, refreshing, and wondering if the next headline brings clarity or another round of confusion.
The president has teased clarity before—endorsing rescheduling, nodding at cannabis banking, even warming to a Florida adult-use push that fizzled. Then he turned careful and cagey, framing it as a complicated subject with dueling anecdotes: a medical darling to some, a societal scourge to others. That tension is the American cannabis story in miniature. The science and the spreadsheets argue one way; stigma and electoral math argue another. Schedule III wouldn’t make weed legal overnight, but it would be a tectonic shift, transforming how the industry pays taxes, how doctors study cannabinoids, and how investors price risk. The difference between Schedule I’s “no accepted medical use” fiction and Schedule III’s medical acknowledgment is more than symbolism—it’s a lifeline to mainstream finance, a door cracked open for serious clinical research, and a signal flare to states charting their own paths.
But there’s a new wrinkle in the plot: the federal hammer came down on hemp-derived THC. Congress sent a crackdown to the Resolute desk, and the signing pen followed. For the industry, it wasn’t just another D.C. food fight; it was a supply-chain thunderclap, slamming the brakes on delta-8 shelves and small-town storefronts that survived the pandemic on gummies and tinctures. If you missed the play-by-play, start with Congress Passes Bill To Recriminalize Hemp THC Products, Sending It To Trump’s Desk and then the sequel, Trump Signs Bill To Recriminalize Hemp THC Products, Years After Approving Their Legalization. The fallout isn’t abstract: in states like Minnesota, hemp entrepreneurs warn the federal THC ban will gut local economies and shutter mom-and-pop outfits who played by the rules while waiting for federal cannabis rescheduling to finally catch up—read the punch-in-the-gut perspective in Minnesota Hemp Businesses And Senators Say Federal THC Ban Will Hurt The State’s Economy. This is the paradox: Washington is flirting with sensibility on marijuana scheduling while slamming a door on hemp—two plants, one family, wildly different political fates.
Meanwhile, Capitol Hill whispers that a Schedule III shift could be the domino that finally knocks loose cannabis banking reform. The SAFER Banking Act has become Washington’s version of Lucy’s football—always teed up, never quite kicked. But rescheduling would dial down risk for banks, invite credit lines out of hiding, and cut the cash-heavy, robbery-prone grind that’s plagued the legal cannabis market. If you’re counting the dollars, legal cannabis revenue over the next decade hinges on predictability: lower compliance costs, insurance that isn’t priced like a parachute, and the end of punitive taxation. The White House’s “ongoing” review keeps everyone in a holding pattern, even as the president flashes mixed signals, posting about medical benefits for seniors—CBD, pain relief, dignity in aging—while his administration parses legal fine print. The industry doesn’t need a love letter; it needs a decision, a line drawn, a policy that doesn’t change with the wind.
Out on the circuit, you can feel the broader drug policy conversation stretching beyond cannabis—psychedelics panels are now rubbing shoulders with conservative kingmakers and cultural lightning rods. That’s not a fringe note; it’s a weather vane, and you could see it at events like this one: Vance, RFK And Other Top Trump Admin Officials Attend MAHA Summit Featuring Psychedelics Session. The ground is shifting, slowly, stubbornly. But here’s the bottom line: rescheduling to Schedule III would be the first federal admission that cannabis has medical value and deserves a rational regulatory home. Pair it with sane rules for hemp and a banking fix, and you’ve got the start of a coherent national cannabis policy. Until then, it’s another late-night conversation, another pot of burned coffee, another promise that tomorrow brings the call. If you’re ready to explore compliant, high-quality THCA products while the policy dust settles, step into our shop here: https://thcaorder.com/shop/.
