One of the largest national cannabis trade associations is still optimistic that the federal cannabis rescheduling process will be finished under President Donald Trump’s administration. However, a spokesperson said for the time being, the timeline was completely in flux, due to the many other priorities of the president.
David Culver said his organization, the U.S. Cannabis Roundtable’s senior vice president for public affairs, has held discussions with White House officials and was told marijuana reform still remains on President Biden’s agenda.
Culver claimed that, with the rescheduling of the DEA’s schedule, the DEA had “kicked down the can” in the past week. However, he said this was to be expected. Culver said that the news was just a slight delay and not a final death sentence as some members of the industry had feared.
While the DEA is still in charge, I believe that the President will need to give them direction in order to reschedule the drug. But I am still hopeful that the president will act on cannabis. “He was very specific in October, last year, about what he wanted to do, and at the start of the year we were very clearly told that we had to wait until our turn.” Culver added, referring to Trump’s pledge to shift marijuana from its current Schedule I status to Schedule III, as well as to support SAFE Banking Act.
When will this happen? Culver told us. “There’s a lot of hand wringing in the industry right now… I’m spending a lot of my time just talking to people on the phone that are key leaders in this space, trying to make sure that they’re remaining positive and optimistic because the businesses are struggling.”
Culver said he is not concerned about the visceral anti-cannabis positions that were taken by Trump appointees in the past, such as Attorney General Pam Bondi or DEA Chief Terrance Cole. Culver noted that Trump does not tolerate disobedience within his ranks, so the cannabis industry will have to wait until the president decides to bring the issue to the forefront. CNN reported recently that Trump’s team members tried to quietly get through Congress a version the SAFE Banking Act in December. This was a good sign for the cannabis industry, but the effort failed.
Culver noted that there are a number of other key officials in the administration who support cannabis reform. We know the president is more pro-cannabis reform than he used to be when he first took office. This has a lot to do with the fact that he learned about the medicinal benefits of cannabis from his golfing buddies and colleagues. This was also a major driver.
According to Culver, the main political obstacle facing Washington, D.C.’s cannabis industry is a simple matter of competing for attention among the chaos over immigration, international tariffs, and other Trump Administration priorities.
“The transition team … they brought out their whiteboard, they put their top 10 priorities together for the first 100 days, and then they made a list of the next 90, and we’re in there,” Culver said. It’s again like when will they get to the next tier of topics that they wish to address? It’s going to take patience. It’s hard to be patient in a tough economic environment.