As president, Joe Biden has done more to advance the liberalization of federal marijuana policy than any of his predecessors. But by the time he leaves office, marijuana will still be a Schedule 1 drug.

The Controlled Substances Act, enacted in 1970, classified schedules run from 1 (for drugs that have the most serious risk of abuse and have no currently accepted medical use) to 5 (which are the least likely to be misused).

The Biden administration initiated the process to shift marijuana from Schedule 1, where it is listed alongside such substances as heroin and LSD, to Schedule 3, which involves fewer restrictions on use and research. Being in Schedule 3 would put marijuana on par with some doses of codeine, ketamine, and anabolic steroids.

If this change happens, cannabis companies could more easily access financial institutions and  get tax deductions that are so far off-limits, potentially allowing them to expand their businesses. The change could also allow wider scientific research of cannabis and partnerships with pharmaceutical companies for cannabis companies.

On May 21, the administration posted the proposed change in the Federal Register, beginning a formal process. In August, the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Anne Milgram, said the agency would begin administrative hearings on rescheduling. The administrative law judge overseeing the proceedings said he would set dates for in-person testimony in January or February 2025.

Once the testimony is complete — the full timeline is unknown for now — the judge would issue a ruling, said Paul Armentano, deputy director of NORML, a group that advocates for marijuana legalization. The Drug Enforcement Administration could then accept or reject that ruling, and there's a 30-day window after the agency formally decides during which parties can appeal, Armentano said.

So, although rescheduling "is in progress and moving forward, it will not be finished before Biden leaves office," said Mason Tvert, a partner with the cannabis consulting company Strategies 64. "This is a lengthy administrative process, and there is always the prospect of legal challenges, which have already begun and will likely continue."

President-elect Donald Trump may agree with Biden on marijuana classification. 

On Sept. 8, Trump posted on Truth Social that if elected, "we will continue to focus on research to unlock the medical uses of marijuana to a Schedule 3 drug."

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump's pick to head the Department of Health and Human Services, has spoken in favor of liberalizing marijuana policy. In a June 2023 post on X when he was running for president, Kennedy said, "I will decriminalize cannabis at the federal level. Current situation with contradictory state + federal laws is absurd."

This doesn't mean rescheduling is inevitable. Trump appointees within the Drug Enforcement Administration could deploy procedural tactics to "derail the process," Tvert said.

There's also the question of whether rescheduling, if it happens, would meet the definition of what Biden promised — to "decriminalize the use of cannabis."

Jonathan Caulkins, a Carnegie Mellon University professor who studies drug policy, said that while both rescheduling and decriminalization "represent an easing of policy," the two are "just not the same thing."

NORML's Armentano agreed, saying decriminalization could be achieved only by removing cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act and making it a substance like tobacco or alcohol.

"Schedule 3 substances like ketamine are strictly regulated under federal laws," he said. "They are certainly not 'decriminalized.'"

However, marijuana policy experts said terminology such as "legalization" and "decriminalization" have historically been used loosely, especially by politicians, which means that a move to reschedule, such as the one Biden initiated, may have been Biden's intention.

"President Biden undeniably took the biggest step toward rolling back federal marijuana prohibition in American history," Tvert said.

Given the timing, Biden won't be able to see this policy change to completion, and it won't entail the full decriminalization he said he wanted. But it aligns with his original promise, so we rate it Compromise.