Bipartisan House and Senate leaders have rejected a provision that would’ve blocked the Justice Department from rescheduling marijuana—while maintaining a longstanding rider protecting state medical cannabis programs from federal interference.
While a GOP-controlled House committee advanced a version of Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) appropriations legislation over the summer that would’ve prevented DOJ from rescheduling cannabis, a new bicameral agreement unveiled on Monday omits that language.
The move comes weeks after President Donald Trump issued an executive order directing Attorney General Pam Bondi to expeditiously complete the process of moving marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).
Here’s the language of the provision advanced by the House Appropriations Committee but excluded from the latest agreement:
“SEC. 607. None of the funds appropriated or other wise made available by this Act may be used to reschedule marijuana (as such term is defined in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802)) or to remove marijuana from the schedules established under section 202 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 812).”
GOP senators have separately tried to block the administration from rescheduling cannabis as part of a standalone bill filed in 2023, but
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