Marijuana Moment: Trump ‘Missed An Opportunity’ To Promote Marijuana Rescheduling During State Of The Union, Industry Leader Says

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President Donald Trump delivered a lengthy State of the Union address on Tuesday, touching on a wide range of policy issues he’s championed in the first year of his second term. But to the disappointment of advocates and stakeholders, the president did not take the primetime opportunity to promote his work around marijuana rescheduling.

Trump did bring up drugs in the context of militarized enforcement actions targeting alleged traffickers, preventing fentanyl smuggling across the border and the addressing pharmaceutical costs. Yet despite the bipartisan popularity of cannabis reform, he declined to mention a December executive order he issued directing Attorney General Pam Bondi to expeditiously complete the process of moving marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).

That hasn’t happened yet, and the Justice Department has been largely silent on the issue in the weeks since Trump signed the order. Some hoped the president would use the high-profile speech before a joint session of Congress to reiterate his directive to finalize the rulemaking, but the issue was ignored altogether.

Adam Rosenberg, chairman of the National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA), said after the speech that the State of the Union represented a “missed an opportunity to highlight a major gap between federal policy and state law.”

“Nearly every state has legalized cannabis in some form, yet federal rules continue to create uncertainty for legitimate operators. The industry has heard promises before, including support for rescheduling. What’s missing is delivery,” he said. “Federal inaction continues to punish state-legal businesses with punitive tax treatment and banking barriers, while the illicit market operates without consequence. That imbalance is unsustainable.”

Trump during his first term used the annual address to promote his administration’s tough-of-crime drug policy position. But it was his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, who first raised marijuana rescheduling—a process he initiated that led to the Schedule III recommendation—at a State of the Union address.

The rulemaking process has dragged on for years now, however, and neither Trump nor the White House have provided any further update.

Ahead of Tuesday’s speech, Marijuana Moment asked the White House whether the president planned to bring up cannabis rescheduling, but a spokesperson simply pointed to a statement from Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt the generally described Trump’s intent to discuss the administration’s “many record-breaking accomplishments” and his “ambitious agenda to continue bringing the American Dream back for working people.”

A DOJ spokesperson told Marijuana Moment last month, meanwhile, that it had no “comment or updates” to share on the topic. However, an agency official more recently told Salon that “DOJ is working to identify the most expeditious means of executing the EO.”

That phrasing is notable, signaling that the department is uncertain about the administrative pathway to finalize rescheduling. The hope among advocates and industry stakeholders was that the process would be more simple, with a final signature on the existing reform proposal that was released following a scientific review initiated under the prior Biden administration.

The Justice Department’s relative silence on the issue has left some wondering if the agency is aligned with the White House, which last month separately touted the president’s order as an example of a policy achievement during the first year of his second term.

Separately, as the Trump administration works to finalize the rescheduling proposal and prepares to roll out a CBD coverage plan through Medicare under the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the head of that agency, Mehmet Oz, recently raised concerns about non-intoxicating cannabidiol and hemp products overall.

Oz said this month that “there are going to be consequences” as more Americans choose marijuana over alcohol—including problems caused by “high-dose hemp and CBD.”

Meanwhile, the first-ever White House drug czar recently said that while he loves Trump and “almost everything he does,” that affection doesn’t extend to the pending proposal to federally reschedule marijuana, which he described as a “gateway drug” that’s harming youth.

A White House spokesperson defended the administration’s rescheduling push in an earlier interview with Fox News Digital, stating that it’s part of his “pledge to expand medical research into applications of marijuana and cannabidiols.”

“The president’s historic action paved the way for the development of promising new treatments for American patients, especially veterans—and the presence of several leaders from law enforcement and veterans groups at the Oval Office signing is indicative of how President Trump continues to push the envelope to support our nation’s heroes,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai said.

The rescheduling plan has been met with mixed reactions on Capitol Hill. For example, prohibitionist Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) half-jokingly told Marijuana Moment this month that he felt the Justice Department should “take about 20 years” to finish the rescheduling process.

In December, Harris separately said 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.

Another GOP lawmaker on the other side of the debate, Congressional Cannabis Caucus co-chair Rep. Dave Joyce (R-OH), recently told Marijuana Moment that while marijuana rescheduling might not be at the top of the agenda for the Justice Department or White House amid competing interests, he and bipartisan colleagues will be ready when “opportunity does present itself.”

Joyce separately said last month that he doesn’t think the attorney general would seek to undermine the president’s executive order to move marijuana to Schedule III despite any personal reservations she may have about the policy change.

Former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Trump’s first pick for attorney general this term who ultimately withdrew his nomination, raised eyebrows last week after posting on X that he’s been told the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is actively drafting a rescheduling rule and intended to issue it “ASAP.”

There’s some confusion around that point, however, as a rule is already pending before the Justice Department—and a new rule would presumably be subject to additional administrative review and public comment.

A Democratic senator told Marijuana Moment earlier this month that it’s “too early to tell” what the implications of Trump’s cannabis order would be—saying that while there are “things that look promising” about it, he is “very concerned about where the DOJ will land.”

“The ability of the Trump administration to speak out of both sides of their mouth is staggering,” Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) said. “So I’m just going to wait and see right now. Obviously, there’s things that look promising—to end generations of injustice. I really want to wait and see.”

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Also last month, two GOP senators filed an amendment to block the Trump administration from rescheduling cannabis, but it was not considered on the floor.

Meanwhile, last month, DEA said the cannabis rescheduling appeal process “remains pending” despite Trump’s executive order.

A recent Congressional Research Service (CRS) report discussed how DOJ could, in theory, reject the president’s directive or delay the process by restarting the scientific review into marijuana.

Bondi, the attorney general, separately missed a congressionally mandated deadline last month to issue guidelines for easing barriers to research on Schedule I substances such as marijuana and psychedelics.

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