A petition is urging President Donald Trump to legalize marijuana, as he has considered a major reclassification of the drug.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, the former president floated the idea at a high-profile fundraiser held earlier this month at his New Jersey golf club, where tickets cost as much as $1 million per plate.
During the gathering, Trump suggested he would consider moving marijuana from its current Schedule I classification - the strictest tier under the Controlled Substances Act - to Schedule III.
Right now, cannabis sits alongside heroin, LSD, and ecstasy as a Schedule I drug, defined as having “no accepted medical use” and a high potential for abuse.
Moving it to Schedule III would acknowledge its medical value, ease some of the strict regulations, and open the door for businesses and researchers to operate with fewer barriers.
The Biden administration had already put forward the same proposal, but it wasn't finalized.
Trump’s remarks reportedly came after encouragement from Kim Rivers, CEO of Trulieve, one of the country’s largest cannabis companies.
She pressed him on the benefits of loosening restrictions on medical marijuana, highlighting the billions already generated by the booming legal industry.
The suggestion marks a notable evolution in Trump’s stance, which has often been inconsistent.
In 2018, during a secretly recorded dinner with donors Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, Trump said marijuana use “does cause an IQ problem; you lose IQ points,” according to Forbes.
At the same dinner, Parnas also lobbied him to fire then-U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch.
Both Parnas and Fruman later made headlines when they were convicted on campaign finance charges tied to efforts to funnel money from a Russian oligarch into U.S. elections while pursuing a marijuana business venture.
Now, the possibility of rescheduling has set off a wave of responses from both reform advocates and opponents.
The Drug Policy Alliance (DPA), a leading pro-reform group, issued an urgent call to action on August 25, urging supporters to push Trump beyond rescheduling toward full legalization.
The group pointed to Trump’s past comments that “nobody should be incarcerated over low-level marijuana possession,” and argued that rescheduling to Schedule III doesn’t go nearly far enough.
“But if his administration instead moves marijuana to Schedule III, it would still leave it criminalized under federal law—allowing people to continue being arrested and incarcerated for marijuana-related conduct,” said DPA’s Cat Packer.
"While Schedule III may ease tax burdens for marijuana businesses, that change alone doesn’t address the bigger issue: Ordinary people will continue to face punishment for marijuana while large corporations profit.”
“Anything less than descheduling falls short because it will continue criminalizing people for marijuana,” the group added.
The group also linked to a petition that they intend to present to the White House in the coming weeks.
Their proposal also calls for equity-focused policies such as clearing past cannabis convictions, reinvesting tax revenue in communities most harmed by prohibition, and building a regulatory system centered on public health.
Meanwhile, opposition is mounting from the other side. A coalition led by Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) - joined by law enforcement and religious groups - sent a letter to Trump urging him to reject rescheduling and keep marijuana in Schedule I.
Trump himself has acknowledged the polarizing nature of the issue. Speaking recently, he said: “Some people like it. Some people hate it - people hate the whole concept of marijuana, because it does bad for the children [and] it does bad for people that are older than children. But we’re looking at reclassification, and we’ll make a determination over the next few weeks - and that determination, hopefully, will be the right one.”