Reword and rewrite the following article in HTML, use a hip journalistic writing style and make the heading statements in H3 or bold font where necessary: Trump is reportedly weighing a directive that would push federal agencies to move cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III, but the White House says no final decision has been made. If it happens, Schedule III would bring meaningful 280E tax relief to state-legal operators and ease some research barriers, yet it would still leave cannabis federally illegal, keep interstate commerce off limits and preserve the basic conflict between state markets and federal law. In other words, it could be real progress for businesses and science, but it would not deliver legalization, descheduling, broad criminal justice reform or a durable national framework, meaning the hardest work would still be ahead.
President Donald Trump appears to be reopening a federal cannabis debate that has sat frozen for more than a year. According to The Washington Post, the White House is weighing an executive directive that would push federal agencies to move forward with rescheduling cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act. Administration officials stress that no final decision has been made, but the signal is clear: cannabis is back on the table.
If it happens, the shift would mark the most significant change in federal cannabis policy in more than 50 years. It would also arrive wrapped in contradiction. Just weeks ago, Trump signed a must-pass spending deal that quietly set the stage for the recriminalization of most hemp-derived THC products starting in 2026. Progress, in other words, is moving in two directions at once.
What Trump Is Considering
The Post reports that Trump met this week in the Oval Office with cannabis industry executives alongside Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz. During the meeting, Trump reportedly phoned House Speaker Mike Johnson, who raised objections to rescheduling based on public health concerns. By the end of the call, Trump appeared open to moving forward, though sources cautioned the process is still unresolved.
This would not be a sudden reversal. Trump said publicly in August that he would decide “within weeks” whether to change cannabis’s federal classification. That timeline came and went without action, but the renewed reporting suggests the issue never fully left the White House.
Under current federal law, cannabis remains a Schedule I substance, grouped with heroin and LSD and defined as having no accepted medical use. A move to Schedule III would formally recognize medical value and lower abuse potential, placing cannabis alongside drugs like ketamine and certain prescription painkillers.
Trump cannot personally reschedule cannabis. The Controlled Substances Act gives that authority to the attorney general, typically exercised through the Drug Enforcement Administration. Still, the White House could direct the Justice Department to move the process forward without waiting on the
