President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Dec. 18 directing relevant federal agencies to begin the process of rescheduling marijuana from the more restrictive Schedule I classification to the more lenient Schedule III listing. It’s a move that will not benefit him politically, will actively harm some of his most fervent supporters, and undermine both his anti-drug and anti-crime efforts.

Trump is rarely one to copy the failed policies of his predecessor, former President Joe Biden. But his order restarts a regulatory process begun by Biden in 2022, when he ordered the Department of Health and Human Services and the Drug Enforcement Administration to begin reviewing marijuana’s legal status. These reports were then forwarded to the Justice Department, where then-Attorney General Merrick Garland began a rulemaking in 2024. The DEA scheduled public hearings on the matter for the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025, but those were suspended after Trump won reelection.