Trump Was ‘Poorly Advised’ On Marijuana Rescheduling, GOP Senator Says After Directly Raising Concerns With President

Screenshot of The LCB client Marijuana Moment's story that uses Matt Laslo and The LCB's original reporting from Washington.

By Kyle Jaeger, Marijuana Moment

A GOP senator says President Donald Trump was “poorly advised” on marijuana rescheduling—and while he’s raised the issue with the president directly, the two ultimately “disagreed” on the issue.

Asked about the Trump administration’s position that moving cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) would promote research into the plant, Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC) told Marijuana Moment on Thursday that “that’s a misnomer,” and “you don’t need to change the scheduling in order to do the testing.”

Budd—who led a letter joined by more than 20 other Republican senators in December that had urged Trump to reject the marijuana rescheduling proposal—also argued that the reform is “not good for the workforce” or “economic growth,” despite the fact that simply rescheduling cannabis would not federally legalize it.

“What they’re trying to do is end-run the process,” he said. “If they want to test it through regular [Food and Drug Administration, or FDA] means, then please proceed. But they’re trying to skip that. I just don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“The president was given bad information. I think the president thought he was making a good decision—and I support the president on the vast majority of his policies—but I think he was poorly advised,” Budd said.

The LCB contributed reporting from Washington, D.C.

Read the full report here.