Marijuana rescheduling is not a part of President Donald Trump’s drug policy priorities for the first year of his second term, according to the White House.
Instead, the initial six priorities will largely focus on combating drug trafficking and mitigating the opioid crisis, a statement from the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) says.
With the rescheduling process that was initiated under the Biden administration stalled amid complications with Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) hearings, advocates and stakeholders have held out hope that Trump would proactively push for its completion, given his endorsement of the reform on the campaign trail ahead of last year’s election.
But so far, the president has been publicly silent on the issue, and the administration evidently plans to center its drug policy efforts on enforcement, prevention and treatment, particularly as it concerns opioids like fentanyl.
NEWS: ONDCP has released the Trump Administration’s first-year Drug Policy Priorities. Read them here:https://t.co/ishG8ukpWz
— ONDCP (@ONDCP) April 4, 2025
While the White House doesn’t include cannabis reform in its priorities list, it also doesn’t preview any plans to take hostile actions related to marijuana alongside other drugs like fentanyl, methamphetamines, xylazine, cocaine and heroin that are named in the new document. That will likely be something of a relief for advocates, especially given the strong emphasis on enhancing enforcement against other currently illicit substances.
Also, there are components of the plan that reformers would welcome, including expanding access to the opioid overdose reversal drug naloxone and encouraging states to make drug testing strips more widely available.
“Terrorists, cartels, and other drug traffickers are taking hundreds of thousands of American lives by poisoning them for profit,” Jon Rice, a senior ONDCP official performing the duties of the director, said in a press release. “To meet the urgent need of this moment, the Trump Administration is launching an unprecedented whole-of-government effort to stop these drugs from entering our communities and hold drug traffickers accountable.”
“The priorities in this framework outline the first steps to kick cartels out of our country, free Americans from the deadly grip of addiction, and guide America back to health and safety.”
Here are the Trump administrations six drug policy priorities for the first year:
- Reduce the Number of Overdose Fatalities, with a Focus on Fentanyl
- Secure the Global Supply Chain Against Drug Trafficking
- Stop the Flow of Drugs Across our Borders and into Our Communities
- Prevent Drug Use Before It Starts
- Provide Treatment That Leads to Long-Term Recovery
- Innovate in Research and Data to Support Drug Control Strategies
ONDCP said in the press release that the president’s priorities will continue to “evolve” beyond this initial list, but it described future goals as focusing on the “changing landscape of illicit drug trafficking and ensure that our borders, communities, and schools are secure from the destructive influence of illicit drugs.”
While the administration stressed the importance of promoting strategies to mitigate opioid addiction and overdoses, advocates have long made the case that access to medical cannabis could be one tool in the toolbox considering that multiple studies have found that access to legal marijuana is associated with decreased incidents of opioid use and overdose deaths—and so the total omission of cannabis from the new plan could be seen by reformers as a missed opportunity. Trump has previously voiced support for medical marijuana.
It’s unclear if priorities might shift if the president’s pick for a permanent ONDCP director, Sara Carter, is confirmed by the Senate. The would-be drug czar has called medical marijuana a “fantastic” treatment option for seriously ill patients and said she doesn’t have a “problem” with legalization, even if she might not personally agree with the policy.
This new priorities list is also being released days after the White House said the administration currently has “no action” planned on marijuana reform proposals. In addition to rescheduling, many have been hoping the president would also push for cannabis industry banking access, as he voiced support for while campaigning.
Sources told CNN in a report this week that Trump did attempt to get cannabis banking legislation included in a government funding bill late last year before he took office, but that did not ultimately materialize.
Meanwhile, although Trump himself has not publicly spoken about marijuana policy since taking office for his second term, the White House said in a recent fact sheet about an executive order he signed that the move to decriminalize marijuana in Washington, D.C. is an example of a “failed” policy that “opened the door to disorder.”
Separately, a marijuana industry-funded political action committee (PAC) is attacking Biden’s cannabis policy record as well as the nation of Canada, with new ads promoting sometimes misleading claims about the last administration while making the case that Trump can deliver on reform.
In the background, advocates and stakeholders are paying close attention to Trump’s cabinet picks, with key officials either already Senate confirmed or preparing for the confirmation process who hold mixed records on cannabis issues.
The president picked former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi (R) to run DOJ, and the Senate confirmed that choice. During her confirmation hearings, Bondi declined to say how she planned to navigate key marijuana policy issues. And as state attorney general, she opposed efforts to legalize medical cannabis.
Adding to the ongoing uncertainty around the fate of the rescheduling proposal Biden initiated, Trump’s nominee to lead DEA, Terrance Cole, has previously voiced concerns about the dangers of marijuana and linked its use to higher suicide risk among youth.
Trump recently nominated a vociferously anti-cannabis official to serve as the lead attorney at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), drawing praise from prohibitionists.
By contrast to the HHS general counsel nominee, Mike Stuart, the Senate-confirmed secretary of HHS, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., was previously vocal about his support for marijuana legalization.
Despite that stated support, however, following his confirmation Kennedy said in February that he is “worried about” the normalization of high-potency marijuana and that he feels its use can have “really catastrophic impacts” on people, but that state-level legalization can facilitate research into its harms and benefits.
Despite Kennedy’s history of advocating for cannabis legalization, he said in February that he will defer to DEA on marijuana rescheduling in his new role.
Trump also nominated former Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA) to head up the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)—a choice that raises questions about how the agency might navigate marijuana issues given his prior record of voting against medical cannabis access for military veterans during his time in Congress.
The president has also appointed Alice Johnson, whose sentence for a drug-related conviction he commuted in his first term, to a new role as the nation’s “pardon czar” responsible for facilitating future clemency actions.
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