MAGA and Marijuana Might Become Best Buds

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Richard Nixon said it was akin to heroin when he declared a “war on drugs” as president in 1971. Ronald Reagan called it “probably the most dangerous drug in the United States” during his 1980 campaign.

For decades, Republican politicians have wrinkled their noses at marijuana. But that was a long time ago.

The one who is now in the White House isn’t so averse to the drug.

President Donald Trump is weighing reclassification of cannabis from a Schedule I drug to Schedule III—a move that would ease restrictions on it but stop short of making pot entirely legal. A decision could be made as soon as this month and is likely by the end of this year, according to people familiar with the matter. As one White House spokesperson told us, “All policy and legal requirements and implications are being considered.”

Rescheduling marijuana would place it on the same legal plane as drugs like ketamine, anabolic steroids, and Tylenol with codeine. It wouldn’t be the president’s first pro-weed move. Late last month, Trump shared a video on Truth Social, his online platform, that advocated the inclusion of cannabidiol, also known as CBD, in Medicare coverage. And the president’s nominee to lead the White House’s drug control policy office, Sara Carter, told senators in her September confirmation hearing that cannabis reform is a “bipartisan issue.”

Trump’s openness to cannabis reform is another sign of how the president has reoriented the Republican Party to challenge its long-held orthodoxies—including on issues like trade and foreign policy. When it comes to marijuana, some of Trump’s closest allies are on board with looser restrictions.

“Rescheduling from Schedule I to Schedule III keeps cannabis as a controlled substance but allows for more testing for medicinal purposes,” Alex Bruesewitz, an adviser to Trump, told The Free Press. He called it a “politically savvy move” that is supported by most of the public.

Bruesewitz’s cannabis-friendly tone—and that of others in MAGA—coincides with the industry’s increased presence in Washington, D.C. In June, Bruesewitz’s consulting firm was paid $300,000 by a pro-cannabis group called American Rights and Reform for “media,” according to a disclosure filing, and he has posted on social media in support of rescheduling marijuana.

Brian Ballard and Bryan Lanza, lobbyists with close ties to Trump, are representing cannabis interests in Washington, such as the company Trulieve Cannabis and the U.S. Cannabis Council trade group, respectively, according to lobbying filings. Bruesewitz said that he has not discussed rescheduling with Trump or anyone at the White House.

“Whatever he decides on this, I will back him 100 percent,” Bruesewitz told us, adding that “it’s totally up to the president.” Ballard’s lobbying firm, Ballard Partners, declined to comment. Lanza did not respond.

Trump’s openness to cannabis reform is another sign of how the president has reoriented the Republican Party to challenge its long-held orthodoxies.

The spike in interest among MAGA for cannabis reform comes after major players in the pot industry worked to get in the good graces of Trump. Cannabis companies Trulieve and Curaleaf donated $1 million to help fund his inauguration. American Rights and Reform, funded by those companies and others in the industry, also donated $1 million to Trump’s MAGA political action committee in early 2025.

“The president had been educated on the issue, and he started to come along,” a person in the cannabis industry who is familiar with Trump’s thinking told us. “It was primarily because there were seniors in his orbit that he was seeing on the golf course who were telling him, ‘This stuff is actually helping me, I can grip my club better, walk 18 holes, and I’m sleeping better and don’t have anxiety.’”

American Rights and Reform touts a link on its website to a survey commissioned by the firm of Trump pollster Tony Fabrizio, which found that two-thirds of Republicans, driven by younger voters, support cannabis rescheduling.

But some of the MAGA faithful are much more skeptical. “Smells gross,” Jason Miller, a former senior adviser to Trump, told us. “And it makes people lazy,” added Garrett Ventry, a Republican operative who is close to Trump World.

“The expansion of drugs is not a good move,” John Catsimatidis, a Republican billionaire who is friends with the president, told us.

Trump is, in some ways, an unlikely pot ally. The president doesn’t smoke or drink, which he says is a product of watching his brother Fred Trump Jr. struggle with and die from alcoholism. “If you don’t drink and you don’t do drugs, your children. . . are going to have a tremendously enhanced chance of really being successful and having a good life,” Trump said at a 2015 event in New Hampshire during his first presidential campaign.

“No drugs, no alcohol, no cigarettes,” he added.

In other ways, though, Trump’s openness to reform is less surprising. Decades ago, he called the war on drugs “a joke”—and called for the legalization of drugs to boost tax revenues. During his first campaign, Trump gave mixed signals about his possible support for cannabis, telling Fox News host Sean Hannity in 2015 that Colorado’s decision to regulate marijuana was “bad,” while later expressing support for it being a states’ rights issue. Marijuana is medicinally legal in 40 states, plus the District of Columbia, and is available for recreational use in 24 states and D.C.

But cannabis advocates found themselves disappointed with Trump’s first term as president. His Department of Justice rolled back Obama-era rules that directed federal prosecutors not to go after people and businesses in compliance with state marijuana laws. The federal ban on cannabis was kept in place and, despite some hopes in the industry that Trump would reschedule the drug, no change ever came.

“There was optimism about the rescheduling process, but it was like whack-a-mole and a moving target, followed by inaction,” Corey Burchman, a physician and member of the Coalition for Cannabis Scheduling Reform, told us.

Burchman was among the 25 people chosen by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) under President Joe Biden to testify at a planned hearing about cannabis rescheduling. But the hearing was postponed, and no new date was set when Biden left office. As a Schedule I drug, cannabis is classified as having no medical use and high potential for abuse. Moving it to Schedule III would define it as being a drug “with a moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence.”

While out of office, Trump announced his support for a pot legalization ballot initiative in Florida in 2024. It came after a meeting with Trulieve, months of discussions with others in the industry, and seniors who said they find medicinal benefits from using cannabis, according to people familiar with the matter.

The amendment in Florida failed, but his support was a sign that a second Trump administration might explore more leniency about marijuana. A Ballard lobbyist, Susie Wiles, soon became Trump’s chief of staff in the White House.

By the time Trump was elected for the second time, his transition team was fielding questions from the cannabis industry about rescheduling. Officials stressed patience.

In March, Fabrizio, the Trump pollster, came out with his survey, which circulated in the White House and found “clear support of multiple commonsense cannabis laws” among both Republicans and Democrats. The survey found that 66 percent of voters supported legalizing marijuana and 70 percent supported rescheduling it.

That public support has also prodded the president to seriously consider rescheduling marijuana, people familiar with the matter said.

Trump has believed that a favorable cannabis policy could be beneficial to Republicans in the 2026 midterm elections, even if some of his top aides are not personally on board with supporting pot, according to a senior White House official.

“For a lot of the base, it’s an issue like gay marriage that people have gotten comfortable with,” the White House official told us. “It’s good politics.”

The official said that Stephen Miller, Trump’s deputy chief of staff for policy, would likely take the lead on any change in cannabis policy and “not be super thrilled” about it. But Miller, also the architect of Trump’s immigration crackdown, “recognizes the politics,” the official said.

“For a lot of the base, it’s an issue like gay marriage that people have gotten comfortable with. It’s good politics.” —White House official

A Republican lobbyist who works on cannabis issues added: “Stephen looks at polling, and he’s got a pretty good pulse on where the American people are.” In August, Trump had also said he was “looking at reclassification.”

“It’s a very complicated subject base,” Trump said. “I’ve heard great things having to do with medical and bad things having to do with just about everything else.”

Those “bad things” about cannabis have caused opponents like Pete Sessions, the Republican congressman from Texas, to speak out against rescheduling marijuana. Doing so “would send a message to kids that marijuana is not harmful,” Sessions and eight other House Republicans said in a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi in August.

“I think anybody in the administration encouraging the president to do this is making a huge mistake,” Sessions told us. “We will end up looking like a loser country.”

Another Republican source close to the White House said, “We didn’t vote for legalizing drugs. We voted to put drug dealers in prison.”

But Bruesewitz, the Trump adviser who was paid $300,000 by the pro-cannabis group, said he personally finds it “surprising” that cannabis is classified in Schedule I. “Many veterans I’ve spoken with also value cannabis for its medical benefits,” he said.