The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy has added a new medical professional to its staff. This doctor is a physician who has advocated for Florida’s legalization of marijuana and criticized the move by health agencies to reschedule it.
It is also an insult to call cannabis “medical”
Roneet Lev—an emergency medicine and addition physician who previously served as chief medical officer at ONDCP under the first Trump administration—announced on Monday that she’ll be rejoining the office for the chance to “save lives on a much bigger scale.”
While she didn’t mention marijuana in the announcement on her podcast “High Truths on Drugs and Addiction,” Lev has previously spoken extensively about her issues with cannabis—describing it as an understated public health risk and arguing that commercial interests are the driving force behind the legalization movement.
She spent over an hour in a podcast episode from June 2024 discussing with advocates for prohibition the marijuana rescheduling that began under the Biden Administration. It was clear to her she disagreed with the recommendation of the federal agency to shift cannabis from Schedule I into Schedule III.
She said that people who are accepting the scientific findings that led to the recommendation,”including some in the medical community,” are “drinking that same Kool Aid again” with marijuana as they did with prescription opioids. She also claimed that U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) report on marijuana was flawed, and contained errors in “every single sentence.”
“When it comes to marijuana, the harms are right in front of our eyes—but we ignore the data and follow the industry talking points just like we did in the oxycontin days,” Lev said during the segment, which featured prominent prohibitionists such as Bertha Madras, who also previously served as an ONDCP official.
Lev said that HHS’ revised review procedure, which it used to make its Schedule III decision for marijuana, poses “a serious threat to all the processes of approval and medical communities at large”, adding that she believes that cannabis is a medicine.
Cannabis is “a plant with 500 different chemicals—60 different cannabinoids—many of which have not been studied, and that includes toxins and carcinogens and other things,” she said.
“I really feel sorry for the public—not just for marijuana—because if you have a 90-page document from the Health and Human Services saying, ‘this is medicine, this is safe, this is monitored’ and all the things that we see in this document, they’re false to us physicians and scientists who review this material,” Lev said. No studies were conducted using high-potency drugs. “There was no consideration of the serious mental health implications.”
But that was just marijuana. What should the public think about vaccines, COVID, or other issues of public safety?” she asked. She said, “There’s been a decline in trust for medicine due to this political and financial process.”
Her letter also casts doubt on HHS’s claim that NIDA supported its findings. Lev stated that she personally knew people from NIDA, the Drug Enforcement Administration(DEA), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC) who opposed the rescheduling recommendation.
She also disputed that moving marijuana from Schedule III to Schedule IV would lead to more research on the plant, its components, and the potential for greater profits. “That’s just not true,” she said.
“I have no hope, if that is the case.” [rescheduled], it’ll be better regulated, because we could look at all the states now that have quote-unquote medical cannabis, and they’re run by the cannabis industry—not by independent public health people,” Lev claimed. Lev said, “We know this is not working. Because we’re seeing an exponential increase in the number of pediatric poisonings, emergency department visits, older poisoned people, etc. We’ve already seen the failed process.
“I think the public has lost confidence in medicine and public health after COVID and all the vaccines—and with this, we’re going to have laws that further deteriorate public health credibility, and this is an example of that,” she said, adding that it also poses an “international threat and weakness of the United States not following international laws.”
The second comment was referring to potential violations on the drug scheduling obligations of United Nations treaties that the U.S. signed and which some say mandates the country maintain cannabis either in Schedule I, or Schedule II.
“The U.S. would be at odds with international law.” Lev stated earlier on in the episode that this makes matters messy. “We can withdraw from international treaties, but if we do not want to adhere to international law how are we going to expect China and Mexico, who push fentanyl in the United States, to also follow it? How will the U.S. withdrawal from the international treaty on drugs affect the other treaties such as those for nuclear weapons?
In a podcast episode released in 2024 October, Lev tackled Amendment 3, the 2024 Florida ballot measure that sought to legalize cannabis for adult use. The initiative received President Donald Trump’s endorsement during his campaign. This measure failed to pass the steep 60% threshold.
Lev says that, despite Trump’s public endorsement of her campaign, she wonders if Trump “really understands or reads the amendment.” Lev said she’d love “two minutes” with Trump to convince him of this.
Now as she returns to ONDCP, Lev might have the opportunity to try—though Trump has been notably silent on the issue since taking office for his second term so his current views remain unclear.
MEDCAN24 contacted Lev and White House representatives for comments on the apparent disconnect in policy between Trump’s administration and that of the incoming ONDCP officials. However, neither had responded by the date of publication.
In the episode, Lev also dismissed the notion that legalization is smart, quipping that the campaign behind the Florida initiative—Smart & Safe Florida—is a misnomer and “it seems like you can’t always go by the names of these organizations.”
She said, “We must learn from the past.” Would we like big tobacco in charge of rules, marketing and nicotine strength? Purdue Pharma in charge of overprescriptions? Why, if we don’t want big marijuana controlling the regulations and rules on public safety?
Lev also reportedly stated that, “it is an insult to the profession to refer to marijuana as “medical” during a speech in Missouri, last year.
Lev, in 2018, attended an event organized by the prohibitionist group Smart Approaches to Marijuana. She tweeted a picture of her with Kevin Sabet (the group’s President), along with “Marijuana death diaries”.
She also posted that she was “trying to spread the word about marijuana’s public health crisis,” and “marijuana patients” who spoke there shared “heartbreaking stories.”
She tweeted in 2020 a quote from Sabet, a blog about a teenager whose parents claimed he committed suicide because he began using cannabis. “Marijuana hijacks the brain,” she added.
Lev gave a hattip to Sara Carter in Monday’s announcement that she would rejoin the ONDCP. This was despite both Lev and Carter seemingly disagreeing about the medicinal efficacy marijuana.
Carter has, contrary to Lev’s statement, called medical marijuana an “amazing” option for patients with serious illnesses. She also said that she does not have any “problems” with its legalization even though she may disagree with it personally.
The federal drug czar, as per a statute dating back to the 1950s, is not allowed to support the legalization or Schedule I drugs, such as marijuana, in the CSA.
Lev’s social media posts have been extensive about marijuana laws and science. Lev makes repeated claims that cannabis use is linked to mental and health conditions like schizophrenia, suicidal risk, lung disease, and others.
Trump’s support of medical marijuana and the rescheduling cannabis under federal laws is not new.
Meanwhile, the Senate is poised to take an initial step toward confirming Trump’s pick to lead DEA on Monday—a development that many cannabis industry observers believe is necessary for the stalled marijuana rescheduling process to proceed.
Terrance Col was chosen to be the administrator for DEA during Trump’s second term, however so far this agency has been led by interim managers.
Notably, while Cole has said that examining the rescheduling proposal would be “one of my first priorities” if he’s confirmed for the role, he has refused to say what he wants the result to be and has in the past made comments expressing concerns about the health effects of cannabis.
In May, a Senate committee advanced the nomination of Cole to become DEA administrator amid the ongoing review of the marijuana rescheduling proposal that he has so far refused to commit to enacting.
Cole—who has previously voiced concerns about the dangers of marijuana and linked its use to higher suicide risk among youth—said in response to senators’ written questions that he would “give the matter careful consideration after consulting with appropriate personnel within the Drug Enforcement Administration, familiarizing myself with the current status of the regulatory process, and reviewing all relevant information.”
Meanwhile, last week DEA again notified an agency judge that the marijuana rescheduling process remains stalled under the Trump administration.
John Mulrooney (DEA Administrative Law Judge, ALJ), who was appointed by the Biden Administration to be the DEA Administrative Law Judge in January 2013, has temporarily halted all hearings regarding a proposed move of cannabis from Schedule I into Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act. The DEA and rescheduling supporters said in a Monday joint report that they are still stuck.
Robert Murphy is acting DEA Administrator at the moment, and any decision on the proposed marijuana rescheduling rule will be dependent on his actions. According to others, it is more likely that this rule won’t be implemented until a permanent DEA management is in place.
Murphy’s appointment as acting administrator wasn’t widely publicized, but he’s replaced Derek Maltz—who subscribes to the “gateway drug” theory for marijuana—in the role.
DEA Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) John Mulrooney initially agreed to delay the rescheduling proceedings after several pro-reform parties requested a leave to file an interlocutory appeal amid allegations that certain DEA officials conspired with anti-rescheduling witnesses who were selected for the hearing.
Originally, hearings on the proposed rescheduling rule were set to commence on January 21, but those were cancelled when Mulrooney granted the appeal motion.
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Meanwhile, two GOP senators introduced a bill in February that would continue to block marijuana businesses from taking federal tax deductions under Internal Revenue Service (IRS) code 280E—even if it’s ultimately rescheduled.
Aside from the delays in hearings, the new leadership at DEA is also a complicating factor.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is the Secretary of Health and Human Services in the United States. He has been vocal before about his support of cannabis legalization and psychedelics as therapy. But during his Senate confirmation process in February, he said that he would defer to DEA on marijuana rescheduling in his new role.
Separately, former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) was reportedly photographed reviewing a document that appears to be a draft contract to provide services—including “administration-related guidance”—to a firm affiliated with the major marijuana company Trulieve. The visible portion of the document describes a lucrative bonus if a certain “matter resolves,” with an “additional ‘Super Success Fee'” for other “exclusive policy remedies.”
Last month, the former congressman reiterated his own support for rescheduling cannabis—suggesting in an interview with a Florida Republican lawmaker that the GOP could win more of the youth vote by embracing marijuana reform.
Gaetz also said last month that Trump’s endorsement of a Schedule III reclassification was essentially an attempt to shore up support among young voters rather than a sincere reflection of his personal views about cannabis.
A survey conducted by a GOP pollster affiliated with Trump that was released in April found that a majority of Republicans back a variety of cannabis reforms, including rescheduling. Notably, Republicans are even more in favour of the states legalizing marijuana, without federal interference, than is the average voter.
Trump has chosen Pam Bondi, the former Florida attorney general, to be his nominee for DOJ. The Senate has confirmed this decision. During her confirmation hearings, Bondi declined to say how she planned to navigate key marijuana policy issues. As attorney general of Florida, Bondi opposed the legalization of medical marijuana.
Amid the stalled marijuana rescheduling process that’s carried over from the last presidential administration, congressional researchers recently reiterated that lawmakers could enact the reform themselves with “greater speed and flexibility” if they so choose, while potentially avoiding judicial challenges.
Meanwhile, a newly formed coalition of professional athletes and entertainers, led by retired boxer Mike Tyson, sent a letter to Trump on Friday—thanking him for past clemency actions while emphasizing the opportunity he has to best former President Joe Biden by rescheduling marijuana, expanding pardons and freeing up banking services for licensed cannabis businesses.
Philip Steffan provided the photo.
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