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Could DOJ ignore Trump’s cannabis rescheduling order? (Newsletter: December 30, 2025)
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The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) says the marijuana rescheduling appeal process “remains pending” despite President Donald Trump’s recent executive order directing the attorney general to finish the job “in the most expeditious manner.”
DEA and reform proponents on Monday submitted a joint status report on an interlocutory appeal that concerns allegations of agency bias and improper communications with anti-rescheduling parties during the rescheduling review process.
“To date, Movants’ interlocutory appeal to the Administrator regarding their Motion to Reconsider remains pending with the Administrator,” DEA said. “No briefing schedule has been set.”
It’s up to the agency to set the briefing schedule. But nearly a year after the appeal was accepted by a former administrative law judge, DEA is again delaying the process. This is the fourth joint status report, with largely identical language, that the parties filed pursuant to the administrative court’s order.
DEA Administrator Terrance Cole told senators during a confirmation hearing last year that examining the cannabis rescheduling proposal would be “one of my first priorities.”
This latest filing comes just weeks after Trump signed an executive order calling on Attorney General Pam Bondi to expeditiously finalize a rule to move cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).
Meanwhile, a leading marijuana prohibitionist group says it’s retained the legal services of Trump’s former attorney general, Bill Barr, to sue to reverse federal marijuana rescheduling if and when the pending rule is finalized. And they’ll also be filing a petition through the administrative process to keep cannabis strictly prohibited.
Moving cannabis to Schedule III wouldn’t legalize marijuana, but it would formally recognize the plant’s medical value, allow marijuana businesses to take federal tax deductions and remove certain research barriers.
A recent report from the Congressional Research Service (CRS) noted that DOJ could in theory decline to enact rescheduling, or start the review process all over again, for example.
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An agriculture-focused conservative nonprofit connected to a PAC linked to the president recently applauded the rescheduling order, arguing that it will “destroy” the illicit market and support seniors and military veterans who could benefit from cannabis.
Separately, a coalition of Republican state attorneys general are criticizing Trump’s rescheduling decision, saying cannabis is “properly” classified as a Schedule I drug with no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.
Last month, groups of House and Senate Republican lawmakers also sent letters urging Trump not to reschedule cannabis. Trump, however, dismissed those concerns—pointing out that an overwhelming majority of Americans support the reform and that cannabis can help people who are suffering from serious health issues, including his personal friends.
While the interlocutory appeal before DEA is on pause again with the latest filing, the agency did recently finalize quotas for legal production of controlled substances in 2026—further raising the amount of certain psychedelics that can be made for research purposes in the new year.
Over recent years, DEA has generally ramped up production goals for marijuana and certain psychedelics as interest in their therapeutic potential has grown within the public and scientific community.
Read the latest DEA filing in the rescheduling case below:
Kyle Jaeger is Marijuana Moment’s Sacramento-based managing editor. He’s covered drug policy for more than a decade—specializing in state and federal marijuana and psychedelics issues at publications that also include High Times, VICE and attn. In 2022, Jaeger was named Benzinga’s Cannabis Policy Reporter of the Year.
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