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In August 2023, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a 250-page report recommending that cannabis be rescheduled to a Schedule III substance under the Controlled Substances Act. It was expected that the HHS report would be the sparkplug for rescheduling. It was supposed to be. An administrative hearing – which is necessary for the Attorney General to reschedule cannabis – was scheduled for January 2025. A week before the 2025 hearings were scheduled to begin, the hearing was cancelled by the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) after pro-rescheduling parties alleged that the DEA, the agency that formally proposed the rescheduling effort, is biased against and is trying to sabotage the rescheduling efforts. The ALJ cancelled the rescheduling hearing altogether so that the pro-rescheduling parties could lodge their complaints to the Director of the DEA.
In December 2025, President Trump issued an executive order Increasing Medical Marijuana and Cannabidiol Research, which outlined various research demonstrating the medical benefits of cannabis and CBD and which also directed his administration to take “all necessary steps to complete” the rescheduling process that began in 2025.
On Monday, the parties to the administrative hearing filed a Status Report indicating that the appeal being heard by President Trump’s DEA Administrator “remains pending” and that DEA has not yet even set a briefing schedule. For now, we all continue to await some (any) movement in this case.
