Trump AG Nominee Won’t Commit to Adult-Use Marijuana Rescheduling

The Trump administration’s choice to run the Justice Department permanently has declined to commit to moving marijuana beyond medical use under federal law — a signal that Washington has no immediate plans to loosen restrictions on adult-use cannabis, even as a separate federal process to do exactly that moves ahead.

Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general whom President Donald Trump has nominated to hold the job permanently, laid out his position in written answers to the Senate Judiciary Committee submitted as part of his confirmation. Pressed on whether he backs rescheduling cannabis for recreational use or easing federal penalties for possession and sales, Blanche sidestepped, saying only that he would give the question careful consideration after conferring with relevant stakeholders, including DEA personnel, if confirmed.

It was nearly word-for-word the answer he gave in 2025, when senators asked about rescheduling during his confirmation to become deputy attorney general. Then, as now, he declined to stake out a position on aligning federal and state cannabis law, saying he had not studied the issue closely.

A firmer line on enforcement

Where Blanche was noncommittal on reform, he was clearer on enforcement. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) asked whether he supported a Trump Justice Department directive telling federal prosecutors to pursue charges for simple marijuana possession on federal land, including national parks. Blanche replied that it was important to empower U.S. Attorneys to enforce all laws as appropriate — indicating he would not stand in the way of prosecuting possession cases in federal court.

That posture matters for consumers. Simple possession charged federally can carry up to a year behind bars and a minimum $1,000 fine, and those penalties sit outside the scheduling debate entirely — they are written specifically for marijuana and do not change when its schedule does.

Blanche also fielded a question about the federal tax rule that bars cannabis businesses from claiming the ordinary deductions available to other companies. Asked how relief from that penalty would apply to operators holding both medical and adult-use licenses, he noted only that the rule applies to businesses trafficking in Schedule I or II substances — without addressing what happens to a dual-licensed company if recreational marijuana stays in Schedule I. For vertically integrated operators that sell medical and recreational product under one roof, that is not an academic question; it determines how much of their business the tax relief actually reaches.

What the April order already changed

The backdrop is the most consequential shift in federal cannabis policy in decades. In April 2026, Blanche — then serving as acting attorney general — issued an order that immediately moved FDA-approved marijuana products and state-licensed medical cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act. The action recognized state medical programs under federal law for the first time, opened an expedited DEA registration pathway for medical operators, and set up potential relief from the tax penalty that has squeezed the industry for years.

But it stopped at medical. Recreational marijuana and its derivatives remain in Schedule I, where their manufacture, sale, and possession are still federal crimes regardless of state law, according to the Congressional Research Service. The broader question — whether to move all marijuana to Schedule III — is being handled through a separate DEA administrative hearing that the same April order set in motion.

During that hearing, government witnesses argued that marijuana is safer than alcohol and opioids and belongs in a lower schedule — an unusual posture for the DEA, which was defending the proposed rule it inherited from the prior administration.

What operators are still waiting on

That hearing wrapped up its testimony in July 2026, and no deadline governs the decision that follows. An administrative law judge will issue a recommendation, after which the DEA administrator makes the final call — a ruling that can then be challenged in federal court.

Those challenges are already underway. The April medical-rescheduling order is being contested at a federal appeals court by state attorneys general, a pharmaceutical company, and anti-legalization groups, who argue the department skipped rulemaking steps the law requires.

Congress has tried to intervene as well. A House committee voted in May 2026 to block federal officials from carrying out rescheduling, though lawmakers from both parties have said they doubt the effort will succeed.

For operators and patients, Blanche’s answers offer little clarity on the biggest open question: whether the federal government intends to finish what it started. His medical rescheduling order looks durable — he authored it, and a confirmed attorney general is unlikely to unwind his own work. But on adult use, the official most likely to shape federal cannabis enforcement for the rest of Trump’s term is, for now, keeping his options open.