Marijuana Moment: White House Confirms Trump Will ‘Address Marijuana Rescheduling’ Thursday, But Reported Details On Final Decision Are ‘Speculation’

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A White House spokesperson has confirmed to Marijuana Moment that President Donald Trump is “currently expected to address marijuana rescheduling” on Thursday, though they added that “any details of this potential action until officially announced by the White House are speculation.”

This comes amid a rapidly churning rumor mill about the president’s potential plans to issue an executive order directing the attorney general to proceed with a proposal to move cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).

Sources familiar with the administration’s planning tell Marijuana Moment that an announcement on the rescheduling move is planned for 1:30pm ET and that Trump will be surrounded by various cannabis industry and movement stakeholders when signing the order.

As recently reported, the president’s executive order may also address ancillary issues related to CBD coverage through federal Medicare and a call for congressional action on cannabis banking.

There are also rumors that a rescheduling decision will be coupled with presidential clemency, though the scope of that potential relief is unclear. That said, the White House spokesperson made clear that the deluge of details about the administration’s plans are speculative for now.

But according to NBC News, the executive order may contain an explicit push from the president urging Congress to pass a bipartisan bill titled the Secure and Fair Enforcement Regulation (SAFER) Banking Act, which would prevent federal regulators for penalizing financial institutions simply for working with state-licensed marijuana businesses.

The lack of banking access for the cannabis industry was also raised in a Senate subcommittee hearing on Tuesday.

It’s also being speculated that the plan is to take a novel—albeit logistically complicated—approach to cannabidiol, a non-intoxicating component of the cannabis plant that’s widely used as a health supplement. Sources have said that drafts of the executive order have called on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to amend its rules to let people on Medicare receive reimbursements for the cannabinoid product.

That potential reform was also floated in a video from The Commonwealth Project touting the health benefits of CBD that Trump shared on Truth Social in late September.

CMS implemented a rule in April specifically stipulating that marijuana, as well as CBD that can be derived from federally legal hemp, are ineligible for coverage under its Medicare Advantage program and other services. But the agency has since revised the proposed rule, just weeks before the expected administrative order by Trump.

On Monday, Trump said he is “very strongly” considering rescheduling cannabis in part to ease restrictions on research into its effects.

Opponents of the policy change have stepped up their efforts to dissuade the administration from moving forward, arguing that a reclassification to Schedule III will further normalize marijuana use even though it would not federally legalize the plant. Rescheduling would, however, let marijuana businesses take federal tax deductions while reducing certain research barriers associated with Schedule I drugs.

Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD), one of the more vocal prohibitionists in Congress, said this week that Trump doesn’t have the authority to unilaterally reschedule marijuana via executive order. But while lawmakers could overrule any administrative move to enact the reform, it would be a “heavy lift” in the Republican-controlled Congress, he acknowledged.

Meanwhile, multiple top congressional Democrats are making the case that the modest reform would not go far enough—including Sen. Ron Wyden (R-OR) who said the move is only an attempt by the president to “gaslight” voters into thinking he legalized cannabis to boost his “pathetic” approval ratings.

A major drug testing industry organization separately said it’s “sounding the alarm” amid the reports Trump may soon finalize the rescheduling proposal, arguing that the policy change would “have catastrophic consequences for the safety of the United States workforce and transportation sectors.”

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Bipartisan congressional lawmakers have been weighing in on the potential rescheduling decision over the past week—with Democrats like Rep. Alex Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) calling the reform a “no-brainer” and others like Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) pushing back against the proposal.

The Washington Post reported last week that Trump was planning to issue an executive order directing federal agencies to move ahead with cannabis rescheduling.

The outlet also said the president met earlier this week in the Oval Office with marijuana industry executives, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz. During that meeting, Trump phoned Johnson, the House speaker, who expressed his opposition to rescheduling cannabis,

If the administration does ultimately enact rescheduling, it would mark one of the most significant developments in federal marijuana policy since its prohibition a half a century ago, with a Schedule III reclassification recognizing that marijuana has medical value and a lower abuse potential compared to other Schedule I drugs like heroin.

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