President Donald Trump’s former senior advisor Kellyanne Conway has been the “biggest champion” of marijuana rescheduling within the president’s “inner circle,” a GOP congressman tells Marijuana Moment.
As Trump weighs a proposal to move cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL), co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, said he’s confident we’ll “see movement” on the reform since the president’s announcement late last month that a decision was imminent.
But notably, Mast also disclosed that Conway—who’s previously expressed skepticism about marijuana legalization—is “very much in [Trump’s] circle of people,” and rescheduling is “something that she’s been moving forward with the administration as well.”
“For some time she’s been—I think, of the inner circle there, you know—let’s say the biggest champion of that,” the congressman said. “So I think Kellyanne is making a difference as well.”
It’s not clear in what capacity the former senior counselor to the president is involved in rescheduling talks, with uncertainty around whether she’s advising on behalf of a company or organization, or if she’s merely personally supporting the policy change.
Marijuana Moment reached out to Conway’s and Mast’s offices for clarification, but representatives were not immediately available.
Mast also noted in the interview on Thursday that the Cannabis Caucus has met to discuss legislative issues, after months of limited interactions. Lawmakers’ staff have been the most active in coordinating so far this session, but the congressman said the members themselves have since met with “folks and interests and groups and things like that.”
While Trump endorsed rescheduling on the campaign trail ahead of his second term, he was more ambiguous about his position when he announced recently that a decision would come within weeks. But Mast seemed to interpret the president’s comments as a sign of momentum.
“I mean, he said it out loud. You know, he’s looking at the consideration of rescheduling cannabis,” Mast said. “I think because the president brought it up, you will see movement.”
Asked whether Trump’s remarks might serve as a “wake-up call” to the Republican caucus, Mast said “entirely.”
With respect to Conway, the Trump aide made headlines in 2019 when she voiced opposition to marijuana legalization, drawing criticism from certain lawmakers such as then-Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), who was Trump’s first pick to serve as attorney general before he bowed out earlier this year.
But the following year, Conway separately criticized then-Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), who had been named former President Joe Biden’s running mate, over her record of overseeing prosecutions of people for marijuana.
“It looks like she left nobody happy. She is seen by those on the far left, many speaking up last night, as not sufficiently for criminal justice reform. She locked up over 1,500 people or so on marijuana charges,” Conway said at the time. “And by others who are for public safety and law and order, she is seen as somebody who was soft on some of those criminals. I think she has a very mixed record there that people will dig into.”
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Meanwhile, Ben Carson, who led Trump’s Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) during his first term, recently spoke out against the marijuana rescheduling proposal that the current administration is actively considering.
In an op-ed published by Fox News on Thursday, the former HUD secretary suggested that reclassifying cannabis as a Schedule III drug under the CSA conflicts with the president’s efforts to end “the crime epidemic destroying American cities.”
Trump’s former press secretary Sean Spicer and his long-time advisor Roger Stone recently traded diverging takes on the prospect of the administration moving forward on marijuana rescheduling.
Stone separately made the case for reform in an op-ed for Marijuana Moment last week.
Nine GOP congressional lawmakers have called on the U.S. attorney general to reject what they called a “corrupt and flawed” marijuana rescheduling proposal.
In contrast to that letter from GOP lawmakers, a leading drug policy reform group recently launched a petition urging the president to go further than rescheduling by legalizing marijuana altogether.
The LCB contributed reporting from Washington, D.C.
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