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DOJ orders FDA-approved and state-legal marijuana rescheduled to less restrictive status

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Rescheduled at last. This morning, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche signed an order moving FDA-approved and state-licensed marijuana from Schedule I status (the most restrictive classification in the federal government’s drug schedule) to the less restrictive Schedule III.

The order does not legalize marijuana. But it does make it easier for federally funded researchers to access marijuana and allows state-licensed marijuana businesses to claim various federal tax breaks.

Blanche’s order comes on the heels of reporting that the White House had been telling federal agencies to light a fire and reschedule marijuana. And in December, President Donald Trump signed an order asking federal agencies to move marijuana from its Schedule I status to Schedule III “in the most expeditious manner.”

But 420 has come and gone with no action from the feds. This has reportedly irritated the president, who is now demanding action.

Jacob Sullum noted in a column back in December that the practical effects of rescheduling are limited, but the change does at least acknowledge “that the federal government has been exaggerating marijuana’s dangers and ignoring its potential benefits for half a century. That concession counts as progress of a sort, although it falls far short of resolving the conflict between federal prohibition and state laws that allow medical or recreational use of marijuana.”

Skyway socialism. The Trump administration is reportedly on the verge of giving struggling low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines a $500 million taxpayer-funded bailout.

Politico reported yesterday that the administration and the airlines were “in advanced discussions” on a deal that could see the U.S. government own up to 90 percent of Spirit Airlines shares.

The Trump administration has been tight-lipped about the deal thus far. A spokesperson only said that Spirit would be on sounder financial footing had the Biden administration not blocked its merger with other low-cost carrier JetBlue. Fair enough.

Even so, the last administration blocking Spirit’s acquisition by a market competitor does not justify the current administration sinking hundreds of millions of dollars into it.

Over at View From the Wing, Gary Leff argues that a bailout of Spirit would be illegal and will only make the airline’s financial problems the taxpayers’ problems. A bailout, he says, “makes Spirit Airlines no longer a low fare airline. You’re paying more for Spirit whether you fly them or not.”

Marc Scribner, a transportation policy expert at the Reason Foundation (which publishes this website), said on X that turning low-cost carriers into government subsidiaries will ruin this hyper-competitive corner of the air travel market.

Reconsider the lobster. A circuit court judge in Tazewell County, Virginia, ruled yesterday that the redistricting referendum voters approved Tuesday is unconstitutional.

As we discussed yesterday, that referendum asked voters to approve a new congressional map that would create aggressively gerrymandered districts (including one that famously looks like a lobster) that heavily favors Democrats.

In a brief order, Judge Jack Hurley voids the new congressional map passed by voters and enjoins state officials from certifying Tuesday’s special election results.

Hurley’s order declares that Virginia lawmakers put the redistricting referendum to voters without following the proper procedures laid out in the state constitution. He also ruled that the referendum’s title did not match its subject matter, which…fair.

Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones vowed to appeal the decision.

Reason‘s Eric Boehm wrote yesterday that the Virginia vote, and the preceding efforts in Republican states to gerrymander their congressional maps ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, signals the end of a trend toward bipartisan, depoliticized redistricting reform. Says Boehm:

Virginia’s voters decided on Tuesday that gaining a slim partisan advantage in this year’s election matters more to them than making structural reforms to strengthen the democratic system.

As long as that’s true, there is little hope for any lasting improvements, and we will remain trapped in this downward spiral of short-term politics driven by power-hungry partisans on both sides.

A court ruling blocking Virginia’s new map likely doesn’t change that dynamic.

Scenes from D.C.: On X, Samuel Littauer posted a short time-lapse video showing the rapid transformation of Southwest D.C. from a sleepy industrial district to a booming, dense urban neighborhood.

Whatever D.C.’s other faults, it can claim to be one of the most pro-growth major cities in the country.

  • The Senate is getting closer to passing a bill to fully fund the Department of Homeland Security, which has been partially shut down for over two months now.
  • Navy Secretary John Phelan was fired Wednesday following long-simmering tensions with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
  • The FBI reportedly investigated a New York Times reporter after she reported on Kash Patel’s girlfriend.
  • Another day, another Trump administration sex scandal made for the digital age.





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