April 23, 2026
Health Care Law Today
DEA Issues Long Awaited Final Order Rescheduling Certain Marijuana Products to Schedule III: What It Means, What It Doesn’t, and What Comes Next
Effective April 22, 2026, the Acting Attorney General issued a final order placing certain categories of marijuana and marijuana products into Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (“CSA”) in accordance with President Trump’s December 18, 2025 Executive Order on Increasing Medical Marijuana and Cannabidiol Research. This is a landmark development in federal drug policy and one that carries significant legal and business consequences for entities in the pharmaceutical, cannabis, healthcare, tax, and regulatory compliance sectors. As with most everything touching marijuana, however, the details matter enormously. Importantly, the Final Order does not broadly reclassify marijuana. Instead, it defines a narrow and conditional rescheduling that includes several important caveats, added steps, and ongoing obligations that affected parties must understand.
