Has the Biden administration reversed or modified the Trump-era reclassification?

1. What the Biden administration announced — a rulemaking, not an instant relabeling

In May 2024 the administration “initiated the formal rulemaking process” to reschedule marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III and the White House framed it as “a major step” toward reversing inequities tied to federal cannabis policy ^{[1] [2]}. Coverage from PBS and BBC describes the announcement as the Justice Department’s plan to shift the drug’s schedule and emphasizes that the proposal triggers a multi-step rulemaking process including public comment periods before any change can take effect ^{[3] [2]}.

2. What Schedule III would mean in practical terms

Reporting explains that Schedule III is a less restrictive category — drugs in that group are considered to have accepted medical uses and a lower potential for dependence compared with Schedule I — and that, even if reclassified, marijuana would remain federally regulated rather than fully legalized ^{[3] [4]}. PBS explicitly notes rescheduling would not make marijuana legal at the federal level but could ease federal restrictions and reduce some administrative barriers to research ^{[4] [3]}.

3. Is there evidence the administration reversed or modified the Trump-era reclassification?

Available sources describe Biden’s action as the opposite of the Trump-era posture: instead of maintaining Schedule I, Biden’s administration moved to reschedule toward Schedule III ^{[1] [2]}. The search results do not report any Biden decision that reverses his own 2024 rescheduling proposal or that reinstates a pre-Biden Trump-era classification; therefore, available sources do not mention a Biden reversal of this reclassification ^{[1] [2] [3]}.

4. How different outlets framed the policy and political context

The Hill and BBC reported the administration’s announcement as “monumental” and historic, focusing on the policy shift and social-justice framing advanced by the White House ^{[1] [2]}. PBS and other outlets emphasized technical consequences — research access, regulatory limits, and that rescheduling is procedural and slow — and noted it does not equal full legalization ^{[3] [4]}. These divergent emphases reflect the dual nature of the move: politically symbolic and administratively technical.

5. What the timeline and limits look like according to coverage

News coverage underscores that rescheduling involves a formal rulemaking sequence — proposal, public comment, and final rule — and that the process can take many months or longer; reporting through 2025 still describes the action as a proposed change rather than a fully consummated legal shift ^{[1] [3]}. PBS explicitly cautions that moving from Schedule I to III would not instantly erase federal criminal penalties across the board and would not legalize marijuana ^{[4] [3]}.

6. What opponents and supporters emphasize — competing perspectives

Advocates like the ACLU welcomed Biden’s announcement as an important step toward remedying disparities caused by past cannabis enforcement and urged fuller reforms, including expungements and decriminalization ^[5]. Other coverage points to political calculations and notes the action as a partial alternative to full legalization favored by some reformers; opponents or skeptics framed rescheduling as insufficient or as a potentially cautious, incremental change rather than sweeping reform ^{[5] [3]}.

7. Related federal regulatory activity and broader context

Trackers of Biden-era regulatory changes, such as Brookings’ regulatory tracker, document numerous Biden administration rulemakings across policy areas and can be consulted for status and updates; that tracker was active through January 2025, illustrating that regulatory actions often proceed slowly and meet legal and political scrutiny ^[6]. Subsequent reporting in 2025 and 2026 (outside the scope of these sources) may further update the status of rescheduling; current reporting in these sources treats the 2024 rulemaking as the administration’s forward action ^{[6] [1]}.

Concluding note: available sources in this dataset document the Biden administration’s move to start formally rescheduling marijuana to Schedule III and treat it as a proposal in process, but they do not report any Biden-led reversal of that action back toward the Trump-era classification ^{[1] [2] [3]}.