After months of anticipation, the United States Department of Justice has finalized a landmark reclassification of cannabis, marking one of the most significant overhauls to American federal drug policy in modern history. This long-awaited policy change moves cannabis, commonly referred to as marijuana, from its decades-long placement as a Schedule I controlled substance — a category reserved for drugs with no accepted medical use and high abuse potential — to Schedule III, placing it in the same regulatory grouping as prescription Tylenol with codeine.
The process for this change was first set in motion last year, when former President Donald Trump issued an executive order directing his administration to launch the reclassification review. The core goal of that directive was to expand both public access to cannabis for medical use and create clearer pathways for academic and clinical research into the drug’s therapeutic properties. Even with this reclassification, cannabis remains prohibited for non-medical recreational use at the federal level, a legal contradiction that has defined American cannabis regulation for decades. This conflict persists even as a strong majority of U.S. states have already moved to legalize cannabis for either medical use, adult recreational use, or both, with state-licensed retail dispensaries operating legally across much of the country.
On Thursday, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche signed off on the formal reclassification, which applies to two broad groups of cannabis products: those regulated by the federal Food and Drug Administration, and products sold through providers that hold valid state-issued medical marijuana licenses. While the final announcement of the reclassification came this week, the move has been widely expected since December, when Trump first initiated the administrative review process.
The policy change will not go into effect immediately. Once the new rule is published in the Federal Register, a mandatory 30-day public comment and waiting period will begin before it takes legal effect. Legal challenges to the reclassification are widely expected during this window, and analysts note that such challenges could delay full implementation of the change for months, or even multiple years. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is scheduled to hold a public hearing on the regulatory change in late June to address stakeholder input and procedural requirements.
This reclassification is the second major shift in federal drug policy that the Trump administration has advanced in less than a week. Just five days before announcing the cannabis reclassification, Trump signed a separate executive order aimed at expanding access to psychedelic substances for clinical research and experimental medical treatment, signaling a broader push to relax long-standing federal restrictions on mind-altering substances with emerging therapeutic potential.