Under the Trump administration, federal marijuana policy is undergoing a significant but limited shift.
The federal government has finally acknowledged that marijuana has accepted medical use and does not have a high potential for abuse. Rescheduling will bring some tax relief for marijuana businesses and may expand some research.
However, marijuana has NOT been fully rescheduled or legalized.
Instead, the federal government has taken a partial approach that applies only to specific categories of marijuana products and has scheduled a hearing to consider marijuana rescheduling more broadly. Rescheduling does not release people incarcerated for marijuana, expunge records from previous marijuana arrests, or address barriers to housing and employment for people with previous marijuana arrests.
The need to end federal marijuana criminalization by removing it (“descheduling”) from the CSA remains. Learn more about the impact of federal marijuana rescheduling by reading our explainer.