The Drug Enforcement Administration’s expedited hearing on rescheduling marijuana barely concluded before Senate Democrats reintroduced legislation arguing the entire proceeding is beside the point.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) reintroduced the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act (CAOA) on July 16, backed by 15 additional original cosponsors. CAOA is a sweeping federal legalization bill that would remove cannabis entirely from the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) rather than merely move it to another schedule. If enacted, the bill would render moot the rescheduling process the DEA has been undertaking since April.
It’s a bold bit of counterprogramming, and one worth reading with an immediate caveat: This is CAOA’s third formal introduction since 2022, and neither previous version advanced beyond committee referral.
The timing this time around is nonetheless pointed. The reintroduction follows an April order from Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche that immediately moved FDA-approved and state-licensed medical marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III of the CSA, while also launching an expedited administrative hearing to consider rescheduling marijuana more broadly. That hearing began June 29 at DEA headquarters and wrapped up July 15. Schumer and his colleagues reintroduced CAOA the next day.
CAOA would go much further than Schedule III
If enacted, the bill would remove marijuana from the CSA, expunge some federal marijuana convictions, restore federal benefits denied over past convictions, protect noncitizens from deportation tied to marijuana activity, extend worker protections to the cannabis industry, and direct cannabis tax revenue toward reentry services, job training, and youth prevention. The bill also would impose THC limits on hemp-derived products and classify products exceeding those limits as marijuana under federal law, placing CAOA within the broader congressional fight over intoxicating hemp.
Maritza Perez Medina, director of federal affairs at the Drug Policy Alliance, called the reintroduction “a critical opportunity for Congress to adopt marijuana reform that prioritizes the health, safety, and wellbeing of everyday Americans.” Bryon Adinoff, MD, president of Doctors for Drug Policy Reform, argued rescheduling alone “still falls far short of the comprehensive reform that is needed,” since cannabis would remain subject to the CSA’s research and legal barriers. Benita Jain of the Immigrant Defense Project emphasized that Schedule III status would not eliminate the immigration consequences associated with marijuana activity, including potential detention or deportation.
The bill still faces long political odds
The bill’s history nevertheless argues against high expectations. Schumer’s earlier decision to prioritize comprehensive reform over narrower, more bipartisan measures such as the SAFE Banking Act drew criticism even from reform advocates who considered incremental victories more achievable. Whether the current political environment — with the DEA hearing freshly concluded and legal challenges to the April rescheduling order pending before the D.C. Circuit — changes that calculus remains to be seen.
