If federal officials follow through on President Donald Trump’s recent executive order directing the reclassification of marijuana, it could free up Washington, D.C. to finally legalize recreational cannabis sales after a years-long congressional blockade.
Moving cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) would not federally legalize marijuana, but it would have significant policy implications. While much of the industry and public attention has focused on how the reform would affect tax and research issues, the move could have an outsized impact on local policy in the nation’s capital.
According to congressional analysts and other experts, a Schedule III reclassification would mean that D.C.—which for over a decade has been barred from using its appropriated funds to allow marijuana sales, despite voter approval of of a noncommercial legalization initiative and local elected officials’ support for adding retail sales—could finally create a regulated adult-use market.
In a report published in 2024, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) said that while federal cannabis prohibition would still be the law of the land, it “would permit the District government, as a matter of local law, to authorize the commercial sale of recreational marijuana, establish market regulations, and levy marijuana
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