Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced on Thursday that the Justice Department had reclassified certain marijuana products — those covered by the Food and Drug Administration or carrying a state medical‑marijuana licence — moving them from Schedule I to Schedule III of the federal controlled‑substances system.
Blanche framed the change as a practical step toward patient care and scientific study. "The Department of Justice is delivering on President Trump's promise to expand Americans' access to medical treatment options," he said, adding that, "This rescheduling action allows for research on the safety and efficacy of this substance, ultimately providing patients with better care and doctors with more reliable information."
The shift affects a narrow group of products, not all cannabis, and comes with a procedural next step: Blanche called a hearing for June to consider reclassifying all marijuana. The move ends a half‑century stretch in which marijuana had been listed under Schedule I — a category the federal government has used since 1970 that denotes the highest level of control and, in theory, no accepted medical use.
The practical weight of the action is immediate but limited. Schedule I had included marijuana since 1970; the change sends products covered by FDA approvals or state medical licences to Schedule III. Most U.S. states have legalised medical or recreational marijuana, with more than two‑thirds of states permitting some form of legal use, creating a patchwork of rules that federal policy has long struggled to reconcile.
Context for Thursday's decision stretches back several years. President Joe Biden's administration initiated a review of marijuana's federal classification in 2022. About a year later the U.S. health department recommended a change for the first time. In 2024 the Drug Enforcement Administration requested hearings on rescheduling, but those hearings were indefinitely postponed. Last year President Donald Trump directed his administration to begin the reclassification process, setting the stage for this week's action.
Legal analysts warn the administrative step is far from the end of the story. Marijuana remains illegal at the federal level even after the rescheduling. Businesses in the cannabis supply chain still confront federal tax and banking rules that treat marijuana differently from other legal products. And the new rule can be legally challenged once it is published in the Federal Register — a challenge that could delay implementation for months or years.
The decision has split reform advocates and policy experts. Morgan Fox, a campaigner on drug policy, welcomed the move away from Schedule I but said it did not go far enough: "Moving it out of that classification allows us to have policy conversations that don't start and end with that definition," said. "Lots of policymakers continue to fall back on that, and really won't even discuss the issue as long as cannabis is Schedule I." Fox added sharply that, "The real solution to the issue is to de-schedule cannabis at the federal level, not just move to Schedule III, and then start changing the laws in regulatory ways th"
Tension lies at the heart of the announcement. The Justice Department highlighted new research paths and patient access; advocates warn Schedule III still leaves many barriers in place and preserves criminal and regulatory teeth for federal enforcement. The political history is messy: the Biden administration began the review in 2022, a recommendation followed, the dea sought hearings in 2024 that were postponed, and the current action follows a Trump directive last year — a sequence that leaves room for legal and political pushback from multiple directions.
The clearest consequence is procedural: the June hearing could expand the reclassification to all marijuana, but that outcome is not assured. If the rule survives legal challenge and administrative review, researchers will gain clearer access to federal studies and certain products will be treated differently under federal law. If courts intervene, or if administrative opponents mount successful suits after publication in the Federal Register, the change could be delayed or undone. For now, Blanche's move lowers one federal barrier while leaving intact the larger fight over whether cannabis should be de‑scheduled entirely.
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