Rescheduling

Rescheduling is the administrative process of moving a controlled substance from one CSA schedule to another under 21 U.S.C. § 811. The Attorney General (delegated to the DEA Administrator) initiates the process, typically after receiving a scientific and medical evaluation and scheduling recommendation from the Secretary of Health and Human Services under § 811(b). That HHS recommendation on scientific and medical matters is binding on the DEA. A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking must be published in the Federal Register, followed by comment and (on request) an administrative hearing before a final rule is issued. As of April 2026, cannabis rescheduling to Schedule III remained pending. HHS recommended Schedule III on August 29, 2023; the DEA published its NPRM on May 21, 2024 (89 Fed. Reg. 44597); and DEA administrative hearings were postponed indefinitely by Chief ALJ John J. Mulrooney II on January 13, 2025, pending an interlocutory appeal alleging agency bias. President Trump's Executive Order 14370 (Dec. 18, 2025) directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to complete the rulemaking "in the most expeditious manner," but no final rule had issued as of April 2026, and litigation from prohibitionist groups is anticipated upon finalization. Rescheduling to Schedule III would not legalize cannabis; it would eliminate the IRC § 280E tax penalty for state-legal operators and ease research barriers, but would leave unauthorized manufacture and distribution criminal under the CSA. *→ See also: Schedule I, DEA, Descheduling