A GOP-controlled House committee has unveiled a new spending bill that contains provisions to block the Justice Department from rescheduling marijuana. The legislation would also maintain a separate longstanding rider protecting state medical cannabis programs from federal interference—though with new language authorizing enhanced penalties for sales near schools and parks.
On Monday, the House Appropriations Committee released the text of the spending measure covering Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS). For the second time now, the base legislation contains language hostile to marijuana rescheduling efforts that remain ongoing.
Specifically, the bill would block the Justice Department from using its funds to reschedule or deschedule marijuana. Under the Biden administration, DOJ recommended moving cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), but that process has been delayed for months amid challenges from witnesses in the administrative hearings.
Here’s the text of the provision:
“SEC. 607. None of the funds appropriated or other wise made available by this Act may be used to reschedule marijuana (as such term is defined in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802)) or to remove marijuana from the schedules established under section 202 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 812).”
The language cleared committee as part of the last CJR spending bill, but it was not ultimately enacted into law. The new measure is scheduled for subcommittee action on Tuesday.
GOP senators have separately tried to block the administration from rescheduling cannabis as part of a standalone bill filed in 2023, but that proposal did not receive a hearing or vote.
Meanwhile, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) recently notified an agency judge that the marijuana rescheduling process remains stalled under the Trump administration.
It’s been over six months since DEA Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) John Mulrooney temporarily paused hearings on a proposal to move cannabis to Schedule III. And in a joint report to the judge submitted earlier this month, DEA attorneys and rescheduling proponents said they’re still at an impasse.
To the relief of advocates, the latest CJS bill does continue to preserve a longstanding rider to prevent DOJ from using its funds to interfere in the implementation of state medical marijuana programs that has been part of federal law since 2014.
However, it stipulates that the Justice Department can still enforce a section of U.S. code that calls for increased penalties for distributing cannabis within 1,000 feet of an elementary school, vocational school, college, playground or public housing unit. That language was first included in the last version of the appropriations legislation.
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