Key Takeaways
- • Congressman Steve Cohen (D-TN) formally demanded a status update from Attorney General Pam Bondi and DEA Administrator Terry Cole on stalled marijuana rescheduling efforts, three months after President Trump's December 18, 2025 executive order directing expedited completion of the rulemaking process.
- • The critical administrative bottleneck: the position of Administrative Law Judge required by law to oversee the rescheduling hearing is currently vacant, with the prior judge having retired, effectively halting the formal hearing process despite Trump's directive for expedited action.
- • Trump's December 2025 executive order recommended moving cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act but did not establish a binding deadline, and the Biden administration's prior groundwork—including a months-long scientific review and sign-off from former Attorney General Merrick Garland—has produced no substantive regulatory progress.
- • The DOJ also missed an administrative deadline to issue guidelines easing research barriers for Schedule I drugs, directly impacting scientific research into cannabis and other controlled substances, according to Cohen's letter.
- • A 1972 federal commission appointed during the Nixon Administration recommended removing marijuana from Schedule I over 54 years ago; Cohen argued that the decades-long delay in implementing those findings has resulted in "harsh and disproportionate prison sentences, particularly for communities of color" and substantially hampered legitimate research.
Summary
Congressman Steve Cohen's formal letter to senior Department of Justice officials underscores a significant disconnect between the Trump administration's December 2025 directive to expedite marijuana rescheduling and the practical stalling of the regulatory process. In his correspondence with Attorney General Pam Bondi and DEA Administrator Terry Cole, Cohen questioned both the timeline for completing rulemaking and the mechanism by which the DEA plans to proceed without an active Administrative Law Judge—a position legally required to oversee the mandatory hearing process for Schedule I to Schedule III reclassification.
The structural impediment reflects a broader administrative challenge. Trump's executive order explicitly instructed the Department of Justice to finalize the rescheduling rule "in the most expeditious manner," but the order contained no specific deadline. More critically, the Administrative Law Judge who previously oversaw the rescheduling hearings has retired and has not been replaced, leaving a vacant position that is statutorily required to continue the process. This vacancy has effectively frozen the hearing phase of reclassification, despite the prior Biden administration's completion of scientific reviews and the formal recommendation for Schedule III placement from former Attorney General Merrick Garland.
Cohen's inquiry also highlights a secondary regulatory failure: the DOJ missed a separate administrative deadline to issue guidelines that would ease research barriers for Schedule I drugs, including cannabis and various psychedelics. This delay directly impacts institutional research capacity into cannabis pharmacology and therapeutics. Cohen emphasized in his letter that the decades-long regulatory stasis—spanning from a 1972 federal commission recommendation to remove marijuana from Schedule I through the present day—has produced disproportionate criminal penalties for communities of color and substantially constrained legitimate scientific inquiry.
The congressman framed the reclassification effort as a matter of drug policy reform with direct implications for research access and patient therapeutics. His letter explicitly stated that "it is critical that our drug laws and policies enable research and provide patients with access to effective therapies." The 54-year gap between the 1972 commission's findings and the current reclassification effort underscores the institutional inertia characterizing cannabis policy at the federal level, even as numerous states have decriminalized or legalized the substance.
As of April 2026, the reclassification process remains pending without public indication of administrative timeline or resolution of the vacant ALJ position, leaving industry participants, researchers, and investors without clarity on the federal regulatory pathway despite the Trump administration's stated commitment to expedited completion.
The structural impediment reflects a broader administrative challenge. Trump's executive order explicitly instructed the Department of Justice to finalize the rescheduling rule "in the most expeditious manner," but the order contained no specific deadline. More critically, the Administrative Law Judge who previously oversaw the rescheduling hearings has retired and has not been replaced, leaving a vacant position that is statutorily required to continue the process. This vacancy has effectively frozen the hearing phase of reclassification, despite the prior Biden administration's completion of scientific reviews and the formal recommendation for Schedule III placement from former Attorney General Merrick Garland.
Cohen's inquiry also highlights a secondary regulatory failure: the DOJ missed a separate administrative deadline to issue guidelines that would ease research barriers for Schedule I drugs, including cannabis and various psychedelics. This delay directly impacts institutional research capacity into cannabis pharmacology and therapeutics. Cohen emphasized in his letter that the decades-long regulatory stasis—spanning from a 1972 federal commission recommendation to remove marijuana from Schedule I through the present day—has produced disproportionate criminal penalties for communities of color and substantially constrained legitimate scientific inquiry.
The congressman framed the reclassification effort as a matter of drug policy reform with direct implications for research access and patient therapeutics. His letter explicitly stated that "it is critical that our drug laws and policies enable research and provide patients with access to effective therapies." The 54-year gap between the 1972 commission's findings and the current reclassification effort underscores the institutional inertia characterizing cannabis policy at the federal level, even as numerous states have decriminalized or legalized the substance.
As of April 2026, the reclassification process remains pending without public indication of administrative timeline or resolution of the vacant ALJ position, leaving industry participants, researchers, and investors without clarity on the federal regulatory pathway despite the Trump administration's stated commitment to expedited completion.
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