Does Donald Trump Take Cannabis? What We Know About His Cannabis Use and Policies

Two different questions get bundled into this one, and they have very different answers. Whether Donald Trump personally uses cannabis is a short story with a consistent answer. What his administration has done to federal cannabis law is a much longer one — and 2025 and 2026 produced more movement on that front than any year in recent memory.

This guide sticks to the public record: what he has said himself, what his administration has actually signed and published, and what it means for medical patients, consumers, and trade buyers.

Does he use cannabis? The record says no

Donald Trump has stated repeatedly and consistently that he has never used marijuana. He has also said he has never smoked a cigarette and has never had a drink of alcohol.

The teetotalism is well documented and has a stated personal reason: he has spoken publicly about his older brother Fred Trump Jr.'s death from alcoholism as shaping his decision to avoid alcohol entirely. He has extended that abstinence posture to cannabis in interviews over many years, and the claim is old enough to predate his political career — in 2016, both he and Hillary Clinton said publicly that they had never smoked cannabis.

What is notable is that there is no reporting, documentation, or credible allegation suggesting otherwise. Unlike the many political figures whose youthful drug use has surfaced later, nothing of the kind has emerged about Trump, and he has repeated the denial across decades. On the evidence available, the answer is straightforward: no, he does not use cannabis.

What he has said about cannabis policy over time

His personal abstinence has never translated into a hard-line policy position, and his stated views have moved considerably.

• 2016 campaign: he said he personally opposed legalisation, but argued the question should be left to the states, and he supported medical marijuana outright. That states'-rights framing has been his consistent default.
• 2018: his Department of Justice, under Attorney General Jeff Sessions, rescinded the Cole Memo — the guidance that had discouraged federal enforcement against state-legal cannabis. It was the single most alarming federal development for the industry at the time, though no broad enforcement campaign followed, and Trump signalled openness to a bipartisan legislative fix rather than a crackdown.
• 2018: he signed the Farm Bill that legalised hemp federally. That signature is the origin point of the entire modern CBD and hemp-derived cannabinoid market — including the products now under federal restriction, as covered below.
• 2024: he endorsed Florida's adult-use ballot measure directly: "As a Floridian, I will be voting YES on Amendment 3 this November." He added that he would work with Congress on "common sense" federal reforms and said no one should be serving time for possessing small amounts of marijuana for personal use. Amendment 3 nonetheless failed at the ballot box, falling short of Florida's 60% threshold.
• December 2025 onward: the executive order and rescheduling push, which represent the most concrete federal action of his career on this issue.

The 2025–2026 policy record

This is the part that matters most right now, and it is frequently misreported — often by people who read "rescheduling" as "legalisation". It is not.

18 December 2025 — Executive Order on Increasing Medical Marijuana and Cannabidiol Research. Trump signed an order directing the Attorney General to expedite the process of rescheduling marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act. The order as published frames this around medical and cannabidiol research, not around ending prohibition.

23–28 April 2026 — the first federal concession in decades. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche issued an order, and the DEA published a final rule effective immediately, placing two categories into Schedule III: FDA-approved products containing marijuana, and marijuana subject to a state medical marijuana licence. That second category is the significant one. For the first time in the modern era, federally controlled substance law expressly recognised state-licensed medical cannabis at a lower schedule. The Justice Department's own framing was deliberate: strengthening medical research "while maintaining strict federal controls".

29 June 2026 — hearings opened on the broader question. The DEA began an expedited administrative hearing process to consider moving all marijuana — including products for recreational use — from Schedule I to Schedule III. By this point the agency had also published a marijuana rescheduling regulatory actions page and opened a medical marijuana dispensary registration portal following the executive order.

29 September 2026 — the process paused. The DEA's chief administrative law judge stayed the rescheduling proceedings to consider a newly issued Government Accountability Office report on drug scheduling (GAO-26-108623) and to allow supplemental briefings on whether rescheduling should apply to all marijuana products rather than only FDA-approved ones. The GAO did not recommend against rescheduling, but the stay means the broad question is unfinished.

Where that leaves things in October 2026: state-licensed medical marijuana products sit in Schedule III; recreational cannabis remains in Schedule I, with a rulemaking that could change that still open and currently paused. Cannabis equities have repeatedly rallied on White House signals, and have repeatedly gotten ahead of what the law actually says.

What rescheduling does and does not do

• It does not legalise anything. Marijuana remains a controlled substance. Schedule III means an accepted medical use and lower abuse-potential findings, which loosens research restrictions, and improves the tax and banking position of state-licensed medical operators.
• It does not change state law. Retail sales still require a state licence, and states without legal frameworks still have none. Possession without authorisation remains a criminal offence in most of the country.
• It does not open interstate commerce. Transporting cannabis across state lines remains federally prohibited.
• It does not touch employment rules. Employers can still maintain drug-free workplaces and discipline or dismiss workers for cannabis use, and Department of Transportation rules for safety-sensitive roles are unaffected.
• Patients notice the change; recreational consumers do not, unless and until the broader proceeding concludes with a published proposed rule, a comment period, a final rule, and — almost certainly — litigation.

The other half of the record: hemp is tightening

The same administration that loosened medical cannabis has presided over a sharp federal tightening on hemp-derived intoxicants, and both facts belong in the same sentence.

Section 781 of the earlier federal spending law rewrote the statutory definition of hemp to include a total THC standard and a per-container THC cap, alongside a prohibition on synthetic cannabinoids in hemp products. After intense lobbying, Trump signed H.R. 6500, the Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2027, on 2 September 2026, which split the rollout:

• 12 November 2026: the ban on synthetic cannabinoids in hemp products takes effect.
• 11 December 2026: the total THC standard and the 0.4 milligram per-container cap take effect, excluding products above that threshold from the definition of hemp.

The White House reportedly committed that there would be no further extension beyond 11 December, leaving Congress a narrow window to pass a regulatory framework instead. Our lab-testing standards page explains what the total THC standard means for compliant flower, and our guide to reading a certificate of analysis covers how a lab reports it.

So the shape of the policy is not "pro-cannabis" or "anti-cannabis" in any simple sense. It is medical liberalisation paired with tighter control of intoxicating hemp, with recreational cannabis left in limbo.

Why the shift happened

The political arithmetic is not complicated. Cannabis is popular with voters across party lines, medical use commands broad support, Florida is his home state, and the regulated industry has spent years building a lobbying footprint. Rescheduling also delivers something a legalisation bill would not: it loosens research and tax constraints while preserving federal control, which is precisely how the Justice Department described it.

The restriction on hemp intoxicants is best understood as a separate policy instinct — concern about unregulated psychoactive products sold in convenience stores, particularly with respect to minors — that happened to land in the same period.

What to watch next

1. Whether the broad rescheduling resumes after the GAO report and supplemental briefings, and whether it produces a proposed rule, comment period, and final rule — or litigation.
2. Congress's hemp deadline. Either a regulatory framework passes before 11 December 2026, or the total-THC cap takes effect and large parts of the hemp-derived market lose their legal basis.
3. Whether the medical dispensary registration portal expands into a formal federal registration regime for state-licensed medical operators.
4. State ballot activity, including whether Florida tries again, and how many states continue to legislate on their own.
5. Enforcement of the unlicensed market, which has continued throughout — rescheduling has not slowed raids on unlicensed storefronts or prosecutions for unlicensed sales.

Frequently asked questions

Does Donald Trump use cannabis?

There is no evidence that he does. He has said for decades that he has never used marijuana, never smoked a cigarette, and never consumed alcohol.

Has he ever admitted to trying it?

No. He has denied it consistently, including during the 2016 campaign when both major candidates said they had never used it.

Did he legalise marijuana in the US?

No. He issued an executive order expediting rescheduling, and his Justice Department placed state-licensed medical marijuana products and FDA-approved marijuana products into Schedule III in April 2026. Recreational marijuana remains federally illegal in Schedule I, and no federal legalisation has occurred.

What did the 2018 Farm Bill do?

It legalised hemp at the federal level, which is the foundation of the modern CBD and hemp-derived product industry. Trump signed it.

What is his position on recreational legalisation?

He endorsed Florida's Amendment 3 in 2024, saying he would vote yes and would work with Congress on common-sense federal reform. He has not backed full federal legalisation.

Does Schedule III make cannabis legal where I live?

No. State law still governs retail sales. Rescheduling changes federal classification and research access, not state permissions.

What happens to hemp products in December 2026?

The synthetic cannabinoid prohibition takes effect on 12 November 2026, and the total THC standard with a 0.4 milligram per-container cap takes effect on 11 December 2026, unless Congress legislates a framework first.

Does any of this change wholesale sourcing?

It changes the framework around it. Compliant, low-total-THC flower with batch documentation is the durable category; products built on the old delta-9-only maths are the ones losing their footing.

Sourcing flower with documentation that stands up

Policy headlines move faster than the law, and buyers who rely on either tend to get caught out. Prime Cultivar Flow supplies third-party tested CBD and hemp flower to licensed retailers and trade buyers, with batch-specific certificates of analysis behind every lot and total THC reported honestly, which is exactly what the December 2026 standard will require. Trade buyers can browse the catalog, review wholesale CBD flower terms, read our lab-testing standards, or submit a licence for bulk pricing.

This article summarises public statements and official federal actions as of 26 October 2026 and is not legal advice, nor is it an endorsement of any political position. Executive orders, rules, and statutory deadlines described here are subject to change and to litigation. Confirm current requirements with qualified counsel before making business decisions.