Cannabis legalization is an issue that’s anything but black and white. From proposed bills that never make it to the Senate to delayed progress efforts, so much of the good that the marijuana industry has looked forward to is yet to come to fruition despite bipartisan support. In the most recent of these instances, a majority Republican House committee is gearing to pass a spending bill that will block the Department of Justice from rescheduling marijuana.
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On Monday, the House Appropriations Committee released the text of a spending measure on the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS). The bill proposes blocking the DOJ’s ability to use funds to reschedule or deschedule the plant. The HHS previously recommended rescheduling cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III under Biden, but the change has been delayed and fought for months.
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) said in April that the rescheduling process remains stalled under Trump, and in January, DEA Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) John Mulrooney temporarily paused hearings on a potential rescheduling.
The CJS bill does, in fact, uphold a rider that prevents the DOJ from using funds to interfere with state medical marijuana programs (although Trump has attempted to reverse this protection), a policy that’s been in place since 2014. On the other hand, it allows the Justice Department to increase penalties for distributing the plant within 1,000 feet of an elementary school, vocational school, college, playground, or public housing unit.
The governmental back and forth about marijuana reforms has caused many in the industry confusion and stress. Both a recently proposed hemp ban and the progressive SAFER Banking Act have been delayed, among others—the cycle of damning news and temporary reprieve is an exhausting one.
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Don’t hold your breath for cannabis being rescheduled any time soon. All the marijuana industry can do at this point is continue to advocate and wait; hopefully, it’ll be worth it in the end.