White House is considering reclassifying marijuana to ease restrictions on the drug

Cannabis plants. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Tara Walton

U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday that the White House is “very strongly” considering signing an executive order to reschedule marijuana to a lower drug classification, which would ease federal restrictions.

“We are considering that because a lot of people want to see it — the reclassification, because it leads to tremendous amounts of research that can’t be done unless you reclassify. So, we are looking at that very strongly,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

Trump’s comments come a year after he 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.

Two sources told CNN the White House has been involved in discussions about reclassifying marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule III drug, which the Drug Enforcement Administration defines “as drugs with a moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence.”

The DEA defines Schedule I drugs as those “with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.” Marijuana is in the same drug classification as heroin, LSD and meth.

People familiar with the matter said the White House has been involved in discussions with industry groups about an announcement on rescheduling as early as this week, though a White House official insisted Friday no final decisions have been made. CNN reached out to the White House again Monday.

Trump discussed the issue at a more than two-hour meeting in the Oval Office on Dec. 9, two sources told CNN.

Among the attendees were chief of staff Susie Wiles, deputy chief of staff James Blair, White House counsel David Warrington, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Administrator of the Centres for Medicare & Medicaid Services Mehmet Oz, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary, and White House Domestic Policy Council deputy director Heidi Overton, the sources said.

Also in the room, according to the sources, were Kim Rivers from cannabis company Trulieve; Jim Hagedorn, the CEO of Scotts Miracle-Gro, which has a cannabis division; and Howard Kessler, a Trump ally and advocate for expanded medical cannabis access.

The Washington Post first reported on the Oval Office meeting.

Trump first declared his support for changing federal marijuana policy in the 2024 presidential race amid an aggressive courtship of younger voters, saying he wanted to allow for weed companies to obtain bank accounts and for universities to research the drug.

Trump announced at the time that he intended to vote for a ballot measure to legalize recreational marijuana in his home state of Florida. He then added that, as president, he would “continue to focus on research to unlock the medical uses of marijuana to a Schedule 3 drug.”

Privately, the White House has spent much of 2025 researching whether and how to move ahead with rescheduling marijuana. CNN previously reported that Wiles requested affected agencies to weigh in, and their responses, compiled by Trump’s Domestic Policy Council, were presented to her over the summer.

CNN also reported in August that Trump told a small gathering of donors that the White House needed to look into loosening federal restrictions on the drug.

The internal debate over whether to proceed on rescheduling marijuana comes as Trump’s standing with young people is deteriorating heading into the 2026 midterms. A recent poll of 18-to-29-year-old Americans from the Harvard Institute of Politics measured his support at 29 per cent.