(This article was updated on August 12 to include the President’s latest public statement on cannabis rescheduling)
The cannabis industry is once again awash with hope and speculation over the promise of rescheduling following reports that President Trump has promised the industry that a decision will be made ‘over the next few weeks’.
While this latest bout of hype serves to provide some much-needed optimism and interest in the future of the sector, it’s difficult to ignore the looming feeling of Groundhog Day. With each cycle, the announcements get a little less detailed, and the subsequent inaction a little more frustrating.
Yesterday (August 11), in his first public recognition of the rescheduling process since taking office, Trump gave a less-than-enthusiastic statement on the subject, sparking hope that there will finally be a top-down decision, but increasing fears it could not be the one the industry has been hoping for.
He told a White House press pool: “We’re looking at it. Some people like it, some people hate it. Some people hate the whole concept of marijuana, because if it does bad for the children, it does bad for people that are older than children.
“But we’re looking at reclassification, and we’ll make a determination over the next, few weeks, and that determination, hopefully, will be the right one. It’s a very complicated subject, you know, the subject of marijuana.”
His lukewarm assessment of the project closely mirrors what we’ve seen from the President since before the election. A muddy puddle of statements giving little signal of his administration’s direction, or at times, directly conflicting statements.
According to reports from the Wall Street Journal and CNN, during a recent $1m-a-plate fundraiser at his private golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, multiple unnamed sources suggested that when the conversation turned to cannabis rescheduling, Trump said: “We need to look at that… that’s something we’re going to look at.”
As ever, it is worth questioning the reliability of the source. Not those speaking to two reputable news publications, but Trump himself. Aside from the recent flip-flopping on tariffs, deadlines for action on Ukraine, and various campaign promises, the President’s record of 21 false or misleading claims a day (30,573 in total) during his first term is hard to ignore.
Thankfully, reports that the White House is engaging with the issue run a little deeper than a throwaway mention over dinner.
According to CNN, two sources with knowledge of the situation have stated that Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles, has requested that agencies affected by the potential change in scheduling offer their opinion on the best way to move forward.
Now, a finished report from Trump’s Domestic Policy Council is said to be sat on her desk.
Elsewhere, in an interview with Fox Business last week, James Hagedorn, CEO of Scotts Miracle-Grow (an increasing presence in the US cannabis sector) suggested that the President had assured him on numerous occasions that he plans to push the stalled rescheduling process through.
The issue is also reportedly causing rifts throughout Trump’s team and the wider GOP, with some urging him to tick off as many campaign promises as possible, including vague promises to reform cannabis policy, and others warning that the backlash could outweigh any potential boost in support ahead of the critical midterm elections.
Cannabis policy also potentially runs far deeper than rescheduling in the Trump administration’s wider strategy.
As detailed in a recently published guest post from activist and cannabis business and political consultant Deb Tharp, there is a compelling case to be made that the cannabis industry is being used as a pawn to politicise and justify the ongoing and abhorrent ICE raids across the US.
Once again, hype and speculation is peaking, but in this cannabis Groundhog Day, the world outside looks much the same as it did yesterday.
