Politics
Most Marijuana Consumers Don’t Believe Trump Administration Will Complete Rescheduling This Year, Poll Shows
As a hearing on Trump administration’s federal marijuana rescheduling proposal proceeds this month, a new poll shows that most cannabis consumers aren’t optimistic that reform will be fully implemented by the end of the year.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche in April issued an order that immediately reclassified state-licensed medical cannabis, as well as marijuana products approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) to Schedule III.
Under a separate order the acting attorney general signed, the ongoing hearing is considering more comprehensively moving marijuana to Schedule III—but the new survey, conducted by cannabis telehealth platform NuggMD, shows that most consumers don’t think that will happen by the time 2026 is over.
“In April, medical cannabis was partially rescheduled, moved to a less-restricted category,” the respondents were told. “Now, the federal government is weighing whether to extend that change to all other cannabis, which remained federally prohibited.”
“Do you think that will happen by the end of the year?” they were asked.
A majority—52.5 percent—said they do not think full cannabis rescheduling will happen by the end of the year, while 47.5 percent said they do expect to see the reform announced by then.
The poll involved interviews with 1,063 cannabis consumers who live in state-legal markets from July 2-6 and has a margin of error of +/- 3.01 percentage points.
| Q: “In April, medical cannabis was partially rescheduled, moved to a less-restricted category. Now, the federal government is weighing whether to extend that change to all other cannabis, which remained federally prohibited. Do you think that will happen by the end of the year?” | ||
| n: | % | |
| Yes | 505 | 47.5% |
| No | 558 | 52.5% |
The ongoing hearing overseen by a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) judge is set to conclude by July 15. It’s not entirely clear how long after that the judge will issue his recommendations to the agency—and what the recommendation will be—or how soon after that the DEA administrator will announce a final decision.
“Like many, I had doubts when the DEA announced the participants, but early coverage is largely positive, and the testimony the DEA put on record has been more convincing than I think many consumers and stakeholders expected,” NuggMD CEO Charlie Russell told Marijuana Moment, referring to news that the agency has been focusing testimony on the medical benefits of cannabis and its relative safety compared to alcohol and other substances despite excluding reform supporters from participating in the hearing.
“Early reports have increased my confidence that the hearing will result in full rescheduling,” he said.
Marijuana Moment sent requests to DEA Chief Administrative Law Judge Derek Julius and to Terrance Cole, the DEA administrator, requesting they reverse a decision to prohibit the public from tuning into the cannabis hearing via livestream. A congressman and other journalists later joined in that request, but the agency maintained its ban on streaming.
