DPA Emphasizes Schedule III Would Continue Marijuana Criminalization, Calls for Federal Decriminalization and Regulation

Washington, D.C. — Today, the Trump administration’s Department of Justice (DOJ) and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) issued an order to immediately reclassify FDA-approved products containing marijuana and state-regulated medical marijuana products as Schedule III substances, which would result in tax relief for businesses selling those products. DOJ and DEA also announced a new hearing to consider the broader rescheduling of marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III, which would keep federal criminalization in place.

In response, the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) issued the following statement: 

“After years of delays and half-measures, Americans deserve marijuana reform that fully ends and addresses the harms of criminalization, which includes needless arrests, incarceration, and lasting barriers to jobs, housing, and employment. Partial rescheduling and a prolonged administrative process that may result in marijuana being moved to Schedule III means those harms remain in place,” said Cat Packer, Director of Drug Markets and Legal Regulation at DPA. 

“We urge Congress to pass legislation that removes marijuana from the CSA entirely and regulates all cannabinoids–regardless of whether they are derived from marijuana or hemp. Comprehensive marijuana legalization must ensure public health protections, affordable access for patients, real opportunities for small businesses and workers, and reinvestment in communities. The American people have waited long enough and deserve more than a lengthy administrative process that will ultimately just arrive at Schedule III. Real marijuana reform must end federal criminalization once and for all and put everyday Americans first.”

Background: 

Rescheduling marijuana from Schedule I (the strictest designation on the Controlled Substances Act) to Schedule III (a less restrictive designation) would acknowledge marijuana’s relatively low risk and medical value. The change would ease some barriers to research and provide tax benefits for marijuana companies.

However, Schedule III would perpetuate the following harms to Americans:

• Federal criminalization would remain in place, leaving people vulnerable to arrests, incarceration, and deportation. Under Schedule III, marijuana possession and use would remain a federal crime, even in the 40 states that have legalized medical use and the 24 states that allow adult use. The Trump administration has rescinded Biden-era enforcement guidance that deprioritized low-level marijuana cases, making it easier for federal prosecutors to pursue marijuana-related charges, and signed a congressional bill to recriminalize intoxicating hemp. The administration has also used federal marijuana laws as a pretext for mass deportations and low-level crackdowns in American cities. Millions of people would remain vulnerable to criminal charges, immigration consequences, and the loss of housing, employment, and essential services as a result of marijuana enforcement.
• Rescheduling would not lift all research barriers or address product safety concerns. Many barriers to research on marijuana would remain under Schedule III. For example, rescheduling marijuana would not address researchers’ inability to study the marijuana products people actually use, which is necessary to generate reliable, real-world evidence on their safety and effectiveness. Schedule III would also fail to provide a national regulatory framework, which is needed to ensure consistent public health, consumer safety, worker protections, and fairness in the legal market.
• Marijuana enforcement continues to divert public resources away from proven health solutions and toward policing and incarceration. Economists estimate that marijuana enforcement costs the federal government over $3 billion each year, while states with legal markets have generated nearly $25 billion in combined tax revenue since 2014. These resources could be better spent on addiction treatment, health services, crisis response, and job programs.
• Communities harmed by criminalization receive no meaningful repair. Federal marijuana arrests and convictions can create lifelong barriers to jobs, housing, healthcare, and food assistance—pushing people into underground economies, perpetuating cycles of incarceration, and undermining safety. These harms will continue unless the federal government and Congress pair descheduling with expungement, clemency, reinvestment, and support for small businesses.
• Corporations win, and people are left behind. Rescheduling would offer marijuana corporations major tax savings but provides little meaningful benefit to consumers or communities harmed by marijuana criminalization. Without descheduling, the federal government preserves a system where profit, not public health and community wellbeing, drives outcomes.

DPA and other prominent health and regulatory experts have reiterated their call for Congress and the Trump administration to fully remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act and end federal criminal penalties for marijuana. Experts emphasize the need to establish a legal framework that protects public health and safety while advancing equity and accountability.

Bryon Adinoff, MD, President, Doctors for Drug Policy Reform: 

“Rescheduling cannabis to Schedule III could reduce some barriers to cannabis research but would leave virtually all cannabinoid products illegal, except for a small number approved by the FDA as medicines. Only by descheduling cannabis can the federal government finally end criminalization and begin treating cannabis as a public health issue—through regulation that protects consumers, research that helps us better understand potential benefits and risks, and medical access for those who need it most.”

Eric Sterling, Former Assistant Counsel to the Subcommittee on Crime, Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. House of Representatives; Former Executive Director of the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation: 

“We need cannabis out of the Controlled Substances Act and off the list of federal drug schedules. Most of us who work in the criminal justice system—cops, prosecutors, judges, courts personnel and corrections—know that cannabis prohibition is a waste of time and money. Many of us have seen firsthand how cannabis prohibition leads to abuses and discriminatory outcomes. Almost no one thinks the current federal laws regarding cannabis reflect any semblance of reality regarding its low risk to public health and safety. Everyone who works in law enforcement and criminal justice finds the incongruity between federal cannabis prohibition and state cannabis regulation programs confusing and dismaying.”

Amber Senter, Executive Director, Supernova Women: 

“Rescheduling cannabis to Schedule III would not be enough. While it may help with tax relief for licensed operators, it would continue the criminalization and stigma that have devastated Black and Brown communities for decades. Schedule III would keep barriers in place for research, patient access, and justice reform. True progress is full descheduling. Only descheduling will allow states to regulate cannabis without federal interference, open banking and capital opportunities for small businesses, and begin to repair the harm caused by the war on drugs. Anything short of descheduling is a half-measure that continues to perpetuate inequity and injustice.”

Damian Fagon, Cannabis and Equity Expert, Parabola Center for Law and Policy: 

“Reclassification to Schedule III would recognize medical utility and remove the 280E tax burden. However, federal prohibition would remain in place, past convictions would stand, and state-licensed operators would remain legally vulnerable under federal law. Moving marijuana to Schedule III would reshape the structural rules that govern market entry, scale, and capital access. Expanding financial access without enforceable competitive safeguards would accelerate consolidation and reinforce incumbent market power. Protecting small businesses, workers, and locally rooted ownership requires ending federal prohibition and establishing automatic expungement, enforceable anti-monopoly protections, and binding community reinvestment.”

###

About the Drug Policy Alliance 

The Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) addresses the harms of drug use and drug criminalization through policy solutions, organizing, and public education. We advocate for a holistic approach to drugs that prioritizes health, social supports, and community wellbeing. DPA opposes punitive approaches that destabilize people, block access to care, and drain communities of resources. We believe that the regulation of drugs should be grounded in evidence, health, equity, and human rights. In collaboration with other movements, we change laws, advance justice, and save lives.