Weed insiders can’t agree on what Trump will do when it comes to cannabis legalization, but they’re all making comments about it. Last week, Scott’s Miracle Gro CEO James Hagedorn–whose company has been profiting handsomely from legal pot–said the president told him on multiple occasions he’d reschedule cannabis. But one presidential insider is pushing back on those claims.
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As reported by Marijuana Moment, former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer recently said cannabis reform is a no-go under Trump. During a conversation on his podcast The Morning Meeting with co-host Mark Halperin, the topic of marijuana legalization came up.
“That’s not going to happen,” Spicer asserted.
Halperin disagreed, saying, “Oh, it will. Oh, it will.”
Spicer insisted legalization wasn’t in the cards.
“Not under this president. No, no, no.”
Spicer served in Trump’s first administration. While the president may or may not have changed his tune on cannabis since then, the former press secretary was adamant that Trump was not planning full legalization. However, since rescheduling cannabis to Schedule III is not legalization, some type of reform could be possible without an act of Congress.
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Cannabis insiders sing a different tune
Speculation on federal cannabis reform has run rampant since Trump returned to Washington. Two industry insiders with the president’s ear recently predicted he would indeed reclassify the plant.
“One thing that I learned from working with President Trump last time is that he usually keeps his word—if he says something, he does it,” Weldon Angelos said. Angelos, the founder of Mission Green, was pardoned by Trump for a cannabis-related conviction during his first term.
Meanwhile, several multi-state operators in the cannabis space have tried to get in the president’s good graces via donations to Trump’s MAGA, Inc. political action committee (PAC). This includes hundreds of thousands of dollars from companies like Verano, Curaleaf, and Cresco Labs.
Despite the pandering, it remains unclear if the Trump administration will appease the cannabis community. If Sean Spicer is correct, marijuana advocates will have to wait until the next president comes into power.
