Trump is privately mulling how to declare pot a less dangerous drug

CNN

4 days ago

Donald Trump
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Over a recent dinner at his private Bedminster, New Jersey, club, as President Donald Trump recounted his move against the country's top economic statistician and riffed on New York City politics, the conversation turned to a politically potent issue still in flux: loosening federal restrictions on marijuana.
'We need to look at that,' Trump acknowledged to the small gathering of donors, according to two people in attendance. 'That's something we're going to look at.'
Nearly a year ago, Trump suggested his return to the White House would usher in a new era for marijuana, one that would make it easier for adults to access safe products and give states greater leeway to pursue legalization. He signaled support for removing marijuana from the same legal category as dangerous narcotics like heroin. The pronouncement set him apart from many of his Republican predecessors and came as Trump courted younger Americans, minority groups and libertarian-leaning voters.
But seven months into his second term, Trump's inaction so far on marijuana remains a notable unkept commitment by a president who has acted swiftly on other campaign pledges.
Behind the scenes, the issue has exposed sharp fault lines within Trump's team. Trump's top political advisers, who have led an aggressive push to check off campaign promises, have urged action, according to two people familiar with the internal discussions. They have argued that such a move could help bolster Republican support ahead of the midterm elections.
Other policy advisers, though, remain wary, cautioning that the moral and legal ramifications of loosening marijuana restrictions could outweigh the potential gains and even backfire politically .
In a statement to CNN, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said that when it comes to marijuana, 'all policy and legal requirements and implications are being considered.'
'The only interest guiding the president's policy decision is what is in the best interest of the American people,' she said.
Intensifying deliberations are happening as mixed signals are being telegraphed publicly on what Trump might do next.
Scotts Miracle-Gro CEO James Hagedorn told Fox Business last week that Trump has privately assured him and others 'multiple times' that he plans to reclassify marijuana to a less controlled category of substances. The 157-year-old lawn and garden giant has become a leader in the nascent cannabis industry, with a fast-growing hydroponics business that Federal Election Commission records show donated $500,000 to a Trump-aligned super PAC last year.
But reforming marijuana policy was noticeably absent from the top objectives recently published by Trump's newly installed head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Terrance Cole.
Hagedorn said Cole's recent cannabis snub wasn't surprising coming from a 'career law enforcement guy.'
'I think what (Cole) needs to hear is a call from the president or the chief of staff saying, 'This is a promise he made during the campaign, and promises made are promises kept, '' he told Fox Business.
That 'promise' from Trump, as Hagedorn cast it, arrived in a social media message last year during the closing months of his presidential campaign, when he was aggressively pushing to expand his coalition beyond traditional GOP voters.
Writing on Truth Social in September, Trump announced he intended to vote for a ballot measure to legalize recreational marijuana in his home state of Florida. Trump then added that, as president, he would 'continue to focus on research to unlock the medical uses of marijuana to a Schedule 3 drug.'
Marijuana is currently classified as a Schedule 1 drug – the federal category for illicit substances with 'no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.' Moving it to Schedule 3, which the DEA defines as 'drugs with a moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence,' is something Trump has said he supports.
'As I have previously stated, I believe it is time to end needless arrests and incarcerations of adults for small amounts of marijuana for personal use,' Trump also wrote in the post.
He even discussed the topic with Joseph Edgar Foreman, the pro-pot rapper better known as Afroman, when the two both appeared last summer at the Libertarian Party Convention in Washington, DC.
For a time, it seemed change could come before the 2024 election.
In 2022, President Joe Biden ordered the departments of Justice and Health and Human Services to review whether marijuana should be reclassified. The next year, HHS recommended moving marijuana to Schedule 3 and in 2024 the Department of Justice initiated a new rule to codify the proposal. Biden called the move 'monumental' and a 'major step.'
But momentum stalled and Biden left office before the rule could be finalized. A hearing the DEA scheduled for the day after Trump took office was canceled and hasn't been rescheduled.
In her statement, Jackson, the White House spokeswoman, noted that the current administration is still contending with the process initiated under Biden. One White House official suggested that executive action is unlikely until that is settled. The DEA did not respond to questions from CNN.
Trump's remarks at the recent Bedminster donor dinner underscore the expectation that the president, not anyone else, will ultimately decide whether to overhaul decades of marijuana policy in the United States.
Privately, the White House has spent months researching whether and how to move ahead. Chief of Staff Susie Wiles requested affected agencies to weigh in and their responses, compiled by Trump's Domestic Policy Council, now sit in a report on her desk, two people with knowledge of the report told CNN.
One issue raised in ongoing deliberations is whether reclassifying marijuana would undermine law enforcement's ability to use the smell of marijuana as probable cause for stops and searches, one of the people said. For Trump, whose tough-on-crime platform has emphasized empowering police to pursue drug offenders, that concern could emerge as a flashpoint.
Then there's Trump's personal views. While Trump's public posture on marijuana use has softened in recent years, he remains a known teetotaler whose opinions on drug use were dramatically shaped by his late brother's alcohol addiction.
In remarks captured on video in 2018, Trump shared other – unproven – concerns about the drug.
'In Colorado, they have more accidents,' Trump said in the video. 'It does cause an I.Q. problem.'
Proponents of a change have been publicly and privately urging Trump to commit to rescheduling marijuana, arguing it would open research opportunities, create jobs and give clarity to millions of patients in states that have legalized medicinal marijuana, including many veterans.
In April, CNN reported that a group backed by the cannabis industry, American Rights and Reform PAC, aired pro-marijuana ads specifically targeting Trump's TVs at the White House and Mar-a-Lago. The PAC also donated $1 million in March to MAGA, Inc., a Trump aligned super PAC, recent FEC records show. In 2024, the marijuana company Trulieve and the US Cannabis Council contributed a combined $1 million to Trump's inauguration.
Other influential voices have urged action as well. Podcaster Joe Rogan, a key supporter during the presidential campaign, reiterated his call to legalize marijuana on his show last month. And Alex Bruesewitz, the Gen Z Trump adviser who spearheaded the Republican's courtship of young men last year, has also taken to social media lately to urge for a policy change on marijuana, suggesting it has widespread support. He called rescheduling marijuana a 'no brainer.'
Nearly 60% of Americans support legalization of recreational marijuana against just 11% of people who think it shouldn't be legal for any purpose, according to a 2024 Pew Research Center survey.
Recent polls suggest the president is at risk of losing support among young men as Rogan and other 'manosphere' influencers grow disenchanted by Trump's return to Washington. A high-profile change in marijuana policy could provide an avenue to win them back.
In a memo reported by CNN earlier this year, top Trump pollster Tony Fabrizio and his partners wrote that changing marijuana policy was 'an easy way to attract the voters needed to win in 2026, particularly young voters.'
Alayna Treene contributed to this report.