President Donald Trump stated Monday that the White House is “very strongly” considering signing an government order to reschedule marijuana to a decrease drug classification, which might ease federal restrictions.
“We are considering that because a lot of people want to see it — the reclassification, because it leads to tremendous amounts of research that can’t be done unless you reclassify. So, we are looking at that very strongly,” Trump advised reporters in the Oval Office.
Trump’s feedback come a yr after he prompt his return to the White House would usher in a brand new period for marijuana, one that will make it simpler for adults to entry protected merchandise and provides states higher leeway to pursue legalization.
Two sources advised NCS the White House has been concerned in discussions about reclassifying marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule III drug, which the Drug Enforcement Administration defines “as drugs with a moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence.”
The DEA defines Schedule I medicine as these “with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.” Marijuana is in the similar drug classification as heroin, LSD and meth.
People accustomed to the matter stated the White House has been concerned in discussions with business teams about an announcement on rescheduling as early as this week, although a White House official insisted Friday no closing choices have been made. NCS reached out to the White House once more Monday.
Trump mentioned the subject at a greater than two-hour assembly in the Oval Office on December 9, two sources advised NCS.
Among the attendees have been chief of workers Susie Wiles, deputy chief of workers James Blair, White House counsel David Warrington, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Mehmet Oz, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary, and White House Domestic Policy Council deputy director Heidi Overton, the sources stated.
Also in the room, in accordance to the sources, have been Kim Rivers from hashish firm Trulieve; Jim Hagedorn, the CEO of Scotts Miracle-Gro, which has a hashish division; and Howard Kessler, a Trump ally and advocate for expanded medical hashish entry.
The Washington Post first reported on the Oval Office assembly.
Trump first declared his help for altering federal marijuana coverage in the 2024 presidential race amid an aggressive courtship of youthful voters, saying he wished to enable for weed corporations to get hold of financial institution accounts and for universities to analysis the drug.
Trump introduced at the time that he supposed to vote for a poll measure to legalize leisure marijuana in his house state of Florida. He then added that, as president, he would “continue to focus on research to unlock the medical uses of marijuana to a Schedule 3 drug.”
Privately, the White House has spent a lot of 2025 researching whether or not and the way to transfer forward with rescheduling marijuana. NCS previously reported that Wiles requested affected companies to weigh in, and their responses, compiled by Trump’s Domestic Policy Council, have been introduced to her over the summer season.
NCS additionally reported in August that Trump advised a small gathering of donors that the White House wanted to look into loosening federal restrictions on the drug.
The inside debate over whether or not to proceed on rescheduling marijuana comes as Trump’s standing with younger individuals is deteriorating heading into the 2026 midterms. A recent poll of 18-to-29-year-old Americans from the Harvard Institute of Politics measured his help at 29%.