Rescheduling Marijuana: The Bet That May Be About To Go Very Wrong |…

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit is reviewing the Attorney General's April 2026 Marijuana Rescheduling Order, which moved cannabis to Schedule III and granted tax relief and NYSE listing pathways to multistate operators. The government's own Federal Register admission that formal rulemaking was required—but never conducted—mirrors D.C. Circuit precedent that could vacate the order and force Schedule I status back, erasing gains for Trulieve, Verano, Cresco, and Green Thumb. If the D.C. Circuit vacates the Rescheduling Order—which its own precedent suggests it will—Trulieve's NYSE listing, Green Thumb's DEA fast-track, and every tax relief claim vanish overnight, leaving these companies back where they started: admittedly breaking federal law. The multistate operators bet on forgiveness; the court is about to ask whether forgiveness was lawfully granted.