House Republicans Urge Trump to Maintain Marijuana as Schedule I Drug
On December 18, 2025, House Republicans led by Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) and House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris (R-MD) called on President Donald Trump to keep marijuana classified as a Schedule I drug and oppose any efforts to reschedule it to Schedule III. In a letter signed by 25 GOP lawmakers, they argued that rescheduling marijuana would wrongly signal that the drug is harmless, potentially enabling drug cartels and worsening the national addiction crisis.
The letter cited a fifteen-year medical research review indicating marijuana has no real medical value and noted that 30% of medical marijuana users develop an addiction. The lawmakers emphasized that Congress has already conducted decades of marijuana research and passed bipartisan legislation to expand research while maintaining marijuana as a Schedule I substance.
They expressed particular concern that rescheduling to Schedule III would exempt safety-sensitive workers such as pilots and truck drivers from marijuana testing, which could increase road dangers. Data referenced indicated that over 40% of fatal crashes involve THC impairment.
President Trump had indicated he was strongly considering an executive order to downgrade marijuana to Schedule III to potentially unlock more research opportunities. However, these efforts echoed similar Biden administration proposals based on a Department of Health and Human Services recommendation to reschedule marijuana, which were paused in January.
