Trump Rescheduling Marijuana Would Be A ‘Game Changer,’ GOP Senators Say

Several GOP senators tell Marijuana Moment that, if President Donald Trump
ultimately moves forward with marijuana rescheduling, it would be a “game
changer” for future federal cannabis reform.

In a series of interviews on Capitol Hill late last week, Sens. Dan
Sullivan (R-AK), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Kevin Cramer (R-ND) weighed in
on the pending rescheduling proposal, which Trump said in late August would
be decided on imminently after endorsing the policy change while
campaigning for his second term.

Sullivan, who has previously sponsored legislation to promote research into
medical cannabis for military veterans, said that when Trump “gets behind
something, it has an impact,” implying that completing the rescheduling
process could move the needle with Republican members on the fence about
cannabis reform.

Murkowski, for her part, said that if cannabis is moved from Schedule I to
Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) as proposed, “it’s
totally a game changer.”

“I’m interested. I’m curious that he’s weighing in on this because I don’t
know—has he done that before?” the senator, who has previously expressed
openness to cannabis banking reform and codifying states’ rights to enact
their own marijuana laws, added.

Cramer echoed Murkowski’s point, stating that rescheduling “would certainly
be a game changer for the party, and I do think it would be easier to do
some of these other things” in the way of marijuana reform, referring to
incremental proposals such as those focused on industry banking access.

“Legalization across the board would be a problem, I think, but I wouldn’t
put anything past him. I’ve often thought about, what would be the
ramifications within our very diverse base on this topic if he went
full-throated?” he said. “The increments we’ve talked about before—whether
it’s something on the banking side or something a little more than that on
the medical side, he could make a change, no question about it.”

“He’s all about that [rescheduling]. He has said it. If he reschedules,
that is a big deal,” Cramer said. “I’m open-minded to some of it. I want to
be incremental. I want to recognize states are changing the rules already,
and we should probably pay some attention to that.”

“I’m not on a personal level comfortable with the rescheduling myself, but
you’ve got to be pragmatic about this,” he said. “It changes the
conversation for sure—no question about it—in both parties. Between the
libertarian right and the far left, they all meet back here somewhere.”

Meanwhile, one of Trump’s longtime advisors, Roger Stone, recently said
that his administration has an opportunity to move forward with marijuana
rescheduling—or, even broader legalization—in a way that Democrats who
regularly tout the reform failed to achieve when they controlled the White
House and Congress.

The comments came in response to the president’s social media post late
last month where he shared a video that touted the health benefits of
hemp-derived CBD, particular for seniors.

The Republican Senate sponsor of a bipartisan cannabis banking bill said
recently that Trump rescheduling marijuana would be an “important domino”
to advance his legislation.

Whether Trump ultimately decides to move forward with rescheduling remains
to be seen. Despite his endorsement of the policy change on the campaign
trail ahead of his election for a second term, he declined to restate that
support when asked about it during a briefing late last month—though he did
say a decision would come within weeks.

*The LCB contributed reporting from Washington, D.C. *

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