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Rescheduling weed is bad for public health and is a political loser

On February 13, 2025, President Donald Trump established the Make America Healthy Again Commission to redirect our national focus, in the public and private sectors, toward understanding and drastically lowering chronic disease rates and ending childhood chronic disease. The Commission’s core wellness priorities include reducing substance abuse, preventing addiction, and improving mental health. 

Rescheduling marijuana, moving it to a lower federal drug schedule, risks undermining the president’s determination to address the growing health crisis in America by signaling that it is safe, despite clear evidence of harm. Today’s marijuana products often exceed 15–90% THC, far stronger than in past decades, and higher potency is linked to greater risk of addiction, psychosis, anxiety, and cognitive impairment.

In stark contrast to MAHA’s objectives, rescheduling would accelerate commercialization, increase availability, and normalize use, especially among youth, whose brains are more vulnerable to cannabis’s effects on memory, attention, and decision-making. Public health data from states and countries that have loosened cannabis controls show increases in daily use, traffic crashes, emergency room visits, pediatric poisonings, and psychiatric episodes.

In concert with MAHA, we should aim to reduce exposure to addictive, impairing substances, not reclassify them in ways that expand access and downplay risks. Rescheduling marijuana invites heavier use, more health and wellness burdens, and long-term costs for individuals and communities.

Marijuana rescheduling will also not be the boon to the Republicans’ midterm chances like Big Weed claims. Reclassifying marijuana as a Schedule III drug would be a self-own for the Republican Party in 2026. 

The data is clear: marijuana doesn’t drive voters to the polls. Worse, Americans associate marijuana with high crime: political suicide for any party that must answer for unsafe streets. If the president wants to bolster Republican midterm chances, rescheduling marijuana is no more a healthy move than it is a politically wise move. Those clamoring for it on the Right should take a step back. 

The politics of rescheduling are simple: liberalizing marijuana laws is primarily popular among Democrats who will never vote for Republicans, period.  Yet reclassifying marijuana will divide Republicans, alienating our base voters who do not support efforts perceived to be soft on drugs in the middle of an addiction crisis.

Experts and conservative politicians alike have come out strongly against rescheduling marijuana. Several letters signed by dozens of House and Senate members, over two dozen former U.S. Attorneys, five former White House Drug Czars, and six former DEA Administrators have been sent expressing opposition to rescheduling. 

Marijuana isn’t as popular as one might think among voters, either. A national poll from Emerson College found that only 38% of voters prefer recreational legalization. Surveys also show that the green wave is over: people aren’t high on marijuana anymore. Gallup found that the percentage of Americans who believe marijuana is good for its users dropped ten points (from a majority to a minority) between 2022 and 2024. While every demographic polled thought more negatively of the drug over the two years, Independents soured on marijuana more than Democrats or Republicans.

The public’s disenchantment with marijuana is reflected in recent elections, too. Since 2022, voters have only approved three of ten state ballot measures to legalize marijuana. The industry struck out entirely in 2024, with legalization being defeated in three states (all states that President Donald Trump happened to have won).

To be blunt, evidence also suggests that championing lax herb laws does nothing to activate younger voters. A comprehensive review found that, during midterm elections in which marijuana was on the ballot, turnout among 18 to 29-year-olds rose by 0.1% on average. 

Rescheduling marijuana wouldn’t even help Republican midterm chances among the stoner demographic. A 2025 poll found that 60% of marijuana users say rescheduling wouldn’t improve their opinion of the Trump administration. 

RESCHEDULING MARIJUANA WOULD BE DANGEROUSLY PREMATURE

Here’s something that does drive American voters: crime. The last thing Republicans running for election in 2026 want is to be saddled with perceptions of unsafe streets. Yet that’s precisely what could occur if the president moves to reschedule marijuana. A 2024 Gallup poll found that just 21% of Americans think marijuana legalization makes communities safer. A plurality of Republicans think it makes communities less safe.

Rescheduling marijuana wouldn’t just flop at the polls—it would deteriorate the Republicans’ tough-on-crime stance. Republicans can’t afford to look soft on drugs while promising to crack down on violence in America’s cities. Decriminalizing marijuana is an oxymoron to cleaning up our streets. Moving marijuana to Schedule III would hand Democrats an easy talking point and fracture the Republican base, and the data on attracting new voters just isn’t there. In 2026, voters won’t reward mixed messages. We must continue to enforce President Donald Trump’s hard line on drugs and crime, not blur it.

Paul Gosar is a member of Congress from Arizona’s Ninth Congressional District.

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