The Trump administration’s budget request for the 2026 fiscal year drops provisions that have protected state medical cannabis programs for more than a decade, online cannabis news outlet Marijuana Moment reported on Monday. The budget provision has blocked federal law enforcement agencies from spending resources to investigate or prosecute businesses operating in compliance with state-authorized medical cannabis programs, despite the continued prohibition of marijuana under federal law.
“This provision, which has been in place since 2014, protects patients, caregivers, and medical cannabis providers in the 39 states that have legalized medical access from federal interference or criminal prosecution,” the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) wrote in a statement. “Prior to the passage of this protection, federal prosecutors routinely took actions against patients and dispensaries in legal states.”
The budget restriction was first adopted by Congress in 2014 and has been included in the federal budget every year since. But the Trump administration’s budget request for the 2026 fiscal year released last week does not include the language. Similarly, the budget requests for each of the four years of President Donald Trump’s first term omitted the protections for state-regulated medical cannabis operators.
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