President Donald Trump’s administration is reclassifying state-licensed marijuana as a “less-dangerous” drug, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced Thursday.
Blanche signed an order reclassifying FDA-approved and state-licensed marijuana from Schedule I – reserved for drugs like heroin – to the less strict Schedule III.
“The Department of Justice is delivering on President Trump’s promise to expand Americans’ access to medical treatment options,” Blanche said in a statement.
“This rescheduling action allows for research on the safety and efficacy of this substance, ultimately providing patients with better care and doctors with more reliable information,” he said.
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Blanche noted that the order does not yet apply to marijuana generally, but said the order initiates “a new, expedited hearing with set deadlines, to fully reschedule marijuana.”
Blanche’s order comes just days after President Donald Trump signed another executive order Saturday expediting the review of some psychedelic drugs as potential therapy treatments.
“The executive order I’m signing, we’re actually signing the executive order today, is really a moment,” Trump said. “These treatments are currently in the advanced stages of clinical trials to ensure that they’re both safe and effective for the American patients.”
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The president said the executive order would implement “historic reforms to dramatically accelerate access to new medical research and treatments based on psychedelic drugs.”
“In many cases, these experimental treatments have shown life-changing potential for those suffering from severe mental illness and depression, including our cherished veterans,” Trump said, citing the veteran suicide rate.
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“And the nice part is we’re actually doing this early, but it has been going on. Research has been going on for quite some time. But, you know, usually with things like this, nothing ever happens, no matter how the research ends up, but we’re changing that. This order will clear away unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles, improve data sharing among the FDA and the Department of Veterans Affairs, and facilitate fast rescheduling of any psychedelic drugs that become FDA approved,” Trump continued.
The president said, “in 2024, a study from Stanford University, 30 special operation veterans with traumatic brain injuries underwent — it’s called ibogaine treatment — ibogaine, remember the name,” noting that they “experienced an 80 to 90% reduction in symptoms of depression and anxiety within one month.”
A paper published in the journal Chronic Stress said ibogaine is a “psychoactive indole alkaloid which is extracted from the Tabernanthe iboga rainforest shrub and has been used for centuries in Central Africa for initiatory rituals.”
“Ibogaine treatment is reported to alleviate a spectrum of mood and anxiety symptoms and is associated with self-reported improvements in cognitive functioning in individuals with substance-use disorders. During treatment, ibogaine allows the evocation and reprocessing of traumatic memories and occasions therapeutic and meaningful visions of spiritual and autobiographical content, which are of central relevance in addressing PTSD-related psychological content,” it added.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
