WASHINGTON - The White House has told federal agencies to prepare to imminently loosen restrictions on marijuana, days after President Donald Trump appeared to express frustration with the pace of easing federal restrictions on illegal drugs.

Trump administration officials have been discussing several possible strategies to accomplish their goal, according to four people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe plans that have not yet been announced and were still being considered this week.

The Drug Enforcement Administration has discussed announcing a new administrative hearing, a required step in the process of rescheduling the drug, two of the people said. Acting attorney general Todd Blanche also could directly announce that marijuana has been reclassified as a lower-risk drug and say that states will be in charge of marijuana licenses, the other two people said.

The administration is planning to move marijuana to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act, similar to some common prescription painkillers. Marijuana currently has the same Schedule I classification as heroin.

The people cautioned that the administration’s plans are in flux and could change. The DEA and the Justice Department did not immediately respond to questions about the administration’s plans.

White House officials said Wednesday that the administration was working to “expeditiously” implement Trump’s December executive order to increase medical marijuana research.

Axios first reported that the administration is seeking to soon reschedule marijuana.

Trump in December ordered federal agencies to quickly ease restrictions on marijuana and make CBD more available, framing the moves as efforts to improve medical research. He also stressed that he was not decriminalizing marijuana on a federal level, as many states have for recreational or medical use.

But there has been little public action to reschedule the drug since Trump’s order, frustrating advocates who have spent years urging the federal government to relax restrictions.

President Joe Biden’s Justice Department in 2024 formally recommended that marijuana be reclassified as Schedule III, but the move stalled amid legal disputes and a pending DEA administrative hearing. As part of its plans to expedite the rescheduling of marijuana, the Trump administration could move to end those hearings and start a new process, according to two of the people with knowledge of the administration’s plans.

Most Americans support relaxing restriction on marijuana. An Economist/YouGov poll conducted this month found that 53 percent of adults supported legalizing the drug, including 35 percent of Republicans.

Some critics of the Trump administration’s plans noted that support for legalization has softened as the drug has become more available, with much of the shift coming from Republicans. An April 2022 YouGov poll found that 60 percent of adults supported legalizing marijuana, including 46 percent of Republicans.

Advocates for legalization of marijuana have argued that federal restrictions are outdated and unnecessary. (Source: The Washington Post)

Story Date: April 23, 2026