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White House Drug Strategy Shows Trump Administration’s Conflicts On Marijuana And Other Issues, Experts Say

Published

2 months ago

May 11, 2026

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“On the one hand, the administration is moving in the direction of liberalizing access to cannabis, but at the same time, in the strategy, it talks about the risks of doing so.”

By Aneri Pattani, KFF Health News

The White House’s newly released strategy to combat the nation’s drug and addiction crisis calls for some ambitious public health approaches that some experts say are laudable but will be hindered by the administration’s actions.

195 wide pages National Strategy for Drug Controlpublished on May 4, advocates making access to treatment easier than obtaining drugs, preventing young people from developing addictions in the first place, increasing support for people in recovery and reducing overdose deaths.

These broad goals are widely supported by public health researchers, addiction treatment clinicians, and recovery advocates.

But meeting such goals will be difficult for the administration mass layoffs of federal workers, cancel the investigation and community grants, attacks on institutions and practices which are useful for people who use drugs, and Medicaid cutsa state-federal health insurance program that is the nation’s largest payer of addiction and mental health care for low-income people.

Many of the components of the National Drug Control Strategy are “things that we would agree to and fully support”. Libby Joneswho leads overdose prevention efforts at the Global Health Advocacy Incubator, a public health advocacy group.

But “there are disconnects in terms of what’s important to the strategy and then what they’re actually going to fund,” he said of the Trump administration. “These inconsistencies are felt particularly loudly in this strategy.”

The White House’s National Drug Control Strategy has been released every two yearsit is a document that aims to define a coordinated approach to the federal government that has been one of the country’s defining issues in recent decades.

since 2000, More than 1.1 million people they have died of drug overdoses. Despite the deaths has decreased recentlythe number continues to rise compared to previous decades, and research suggests Overdose death rates for black Americans and Native Americans are disproportionately high.

The strategy document released this week is the first of President Donald Trump’s current term. In keeping with the administration’s approach to addiction issues, it places a strong emphasis on law enforcement efforts to reduce the supply of illegal drugs. The document repeatedly refers to a “war” against foreign “terrorist organizations” — the Trump administration’s term for drug cartels — and increased enforcement at US borders.

Also determines plans implementing artificial intelligence technologies to analyze illegal drugs brought into the country and wastewater testing to detect illegal drug use nationwide.

The second half of the strategy focuses on reducing the demand for drugs, supporting public health prevention efforts, addiction treatment, and helping people in recovery. Religion promotes the role of recovery and the widespread use of overdose reversal drugs such as naloxone.

In a news release, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy called the document a “road map” that will “continue to dismantle our nation’s drug supply and defeat the scourge of illegal drugs.”

The Trump administration did not respond to requests for comment on how the strategy fits with its other actions.

In December, Trump signed one Reauthorization of the HELP Actcontinues with various treatment and recovery-related subsidies and the requirement that Medicaid cover all FDA-approved medications for opioid use disorders. He announced in January The Great American Recovery Initiativeincluding a 100 million dollar investment to combat homelessness, opioid addiction and public safety.

However, few details have been released about the initiative, and in January, about a month after the HELP Act was passed, billions of dollars in addiction-related grants suddenly became available. finish and reset In a frantic 24-hour period.

This “whirlwind” left a “sense of instability and uncertainty in the area”. Yngvild OlsenNational consultant for Manatt Health consulting. He led substance use treatment policy at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, or SAMHSA, under the Biden administration and left about six months into Trump’s second term.

Insecurity increased the president’s 2027 budget requestwhich proposes cutting various addiction and mental health programs and consolidating key federal agencies that work on these issues. Jones’ team and about 100 others in the field have done it he signed a letter Asking Congress to reject the proposals, as they did with similar requests last year.

The national drug strategy adds new and contradictory information to this confusing landscape.

Increasing access to treatment

One of the most significant public health goals in the strategy, mentioned at least half a dozen times, is to make treatment easier than buying illegal drugs.

National data underscores the need for: more than 80% of Americans those who need substance use treatment do not receive it.

The administration’s actions regarding health insurance may make it difficult to improve this statistic.

It’s Medicaid primary source of health coverage for adults with opioid use disorder. When implemented, the Medicaid work requirement in Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act is expected to eliminate that coverage. About 1.6 million people with substance use disorders.

The last time the Medicaid rolls were purged was after that covid-era protections have expired – Many people who were receiving drugs for opioid addiction stopped and fewer people started treatment, according to one. research published last year.

Olsen, who is also an addiction medicine doctor, said she loves the strategy’s focus on making treatment readily available to anyone who wants it. But he said that’s “hard to really imagine when people might have to pay for it themselves because they might lose their Medicaid insurance coverage.”

Appreciate an analysis The upcoming Medicaid changes could cause 156,000 people to lose access to opioid use disorder medication and cause 1,000 more fatal overdoses a year.

People with private insurance may also be affected.

The Trump administration has he refused to enforce it Addressing the regulations of the Biden era strengthening mental health paritythe idea that insurance should cover mental illness and addiction treatment in comparison to physical treatments. And recently, the administration said that redo those regulations in total, raising fears that addiction treatment may become increasingly affordable.

The administration did not respond to specific questions about how it reconciles Medicaid and equity action with the goal of increasing treatment.

Prioritizing prevention

The strategy highlights that preventing addictions before they start is one of the keys to reducing drug demand. It calls for “promoting a drug-free America as the social norm” and implementing science-backed school and community-based programs.

“Investing in early prevention, before drug use starts, saves lives and resources,” he says, citing. several studies about cost effectiveness among such programs.

However, the president’s budget proposes cuts to these types of programs, and federal layoffs have decimated the agencies that would implement this work.

of the White House final quote request He proposes to cut approximately $220 million from SAMHSA Center for Substance Abuse Prevention and almost 40 million dollars Drug-free communities the program

Since the new administration began, SAMHSA has lost about half of the workforceand the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about a quarter.

“It’s not clear to me that they’re going to have the funds or the people to make it happen,” Olsen said of the strategy’s prevention goals.

The strategy presents another wrinkle in the marijuana debate. The document points to marijuana use as one of the drivers of drug use disorders and “convergent evidence from multiple sources” suggests that cannabis use increases the risk of psychosis. It requires the development of new tools to treat marijuana withdrawal and addiction.

However, just two weeks ago, the White House led to reclassification medical marijuana is moving to and from a lower level of scheduled substances audition to do the same with marijuana.

“The administration, on the one hand, is moving in the direction of liberalizing access to cannabis,” Jones said, “but at the same time, strategically, it’s talking about the dangers of doing that.”

“There’s a disconnect there that begs the question: who do you think you are?” he added.

The administration did not respond to specific questions about its marijuana policies.

Stopping overdose deaths

One of the most surprising elements of the National Drug Control Strategy comes in the last paragraph of the last chapter. It focuses on public drug testing programs, which often use test strips to help people who use drugs determine whether their purchased lot contains more dangerous substances, such as fentanyl or xylazine. This helps them determine whether or not to use these drugs safely.

“Rapid test strips and similar technologies that detect fentanyl and other drugs are an important tool that should be legalized,” the strategy document says.

However, SAMHSA announced a last letter He said he would no longer pay for the test strips as part of the Trump administration’s “harm reduction and move away from practices that facilitate illegal drug use.”

The administration has also attacked harm reduction programs executive order and his the budget requests. He did not respond to specific questions about how that position affects the drug control strategy.

Regina LaBelleThe Georgetown University professor, who served as acting director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy in the Biden administration, wrote about the contradiction. a blog post: “It is the height of rhetoric over reality to defend an instrument while at the same time cutting off the funding used to acquire it.”

KFF Health News It is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism on health issues and is one of the core program drivers of KFF, an independent source of health policy research, surveys and journalism. Learn more KFF.

This the article appeared for the first time KFF Health News and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License.

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Entourage Health, formerly WeedMD, enters creditor protection

Published

5 hours ago

June 30, 2026

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Entourage Health Corp. has entered creditor protection. The company and six related entities filed on June 17 under the Companies’ Creditors’ Arrangement Act owed approximately $240.1 million to the sole affiliate of the LiUNA Pension Fund, its owner, its secured creditor and the lender that is now funding the money (First Report pp. 3-6-9

That affiliate, 2437653 Ontario Inc. No. 1 company, Entourage, secured a 2024 deal that took the former WeedMD private and off the TSX Venture Exchange (December 2024 PR). Shareholders were paid half a Canadian cent per share, or C$0.005, and the board recommended a sale in December 2024 (December 2024 PR).

Jason Alexander, head of the special committee of independent directors, recommended to shareholders. “The transaction ensures that shareholders will receive immediate tangible value while positioning the Company for future growth and flexibility,” Alexander said (December 2024 PR). The company took on $167.6 million in debt in that sale, having already breached the covenant with the same guarantee (December 2024 PR). Eighteen months later that debt was $240.1 million when it was filed, and the growth promised by the sale is a settlement (First Report 6-18 p.

Adult use is off, medical is still running
The leisure business is closing, not saving. Entourage laid off about 53 workers in early June before the order, and 22 remain (First Report p. 6 Adult use inventory is being cleared, finished products are shipped to provincial distributors, and flowers are sold in bulk to the market to other licensed growers (First Report p. 12 Color Cannabis, Dime Bag and Saturday Cannabis are the brands going down with it (First Report p. 5

What remains open is the doctor’s arm as the exclusive supplier of cannabis under the Starseed brand to local residents of the Workers International Union of North America (First Report p. 5 The pension fund that funds the procedure is tied to the same union that the medical brand serves, and the part of Entourage that serves union members is the part that is kept alive while the rest is sold for parts.

At the end of July the money runs out with no new money (First Report p. 11 The money comes again from the pension fund affiliate, a $1.1 million debtor-in-possession facility at 5% per annum, no commitment fee, no exit fee (First Report pp. 10-11). The monitor, Ernst & Young, checked terms against other DIP loans in the cannabis sector from January 2024 and concluded that a third-party lender would not lend on better terms given the state of the business (First Report p. 11 The lender, which already owed $240 million, is the only one willing to advance another million to keep the lights on through the sale.

Health Canada is the largest unsecured creditor, owed $494,505, ahead of all suppliers and competitors on the company’s books (List of Creditors p. 1 Supreme Cannabis is owed $262,133, medical platform HelloMD is owed $169,564, the Town of Aylmer is owed $144,815, the Independent Retail Cannabis Board is owed $137,098 and High Tide is owed $124,583 (List of Creditors p. 1 Unsecured claims total $3,288,333 in more than 100 names, many of which have yet-to-be-determined amounts by medical clinics (List of Creditors 1-5 p. Against $240 million guaranteed, none of them will see much.

In the June 29 return, the lender asks the judge to extend the stay until August 28, approve the DIP facility, and double the Administrative and Directors fees to $500,000 each (First Report 4-8-12. p. The directorship is rising as directors face payroll, holiday pay and excise duties over a longer period of time, and the company’s directors and officers insurance expires at the start of July (First Report p. 12

The sales process starts on the same day, based on a marketing effort that started around May and was presented before the deal that sparked interest but no one could make a deal (First Report p. 13 Insiders and affiliates have until July 6th to say they intend to bid, the bid deadline is July 30th, the successful bid must be received by August 7th, and the outside deadline is August 28th (First Report p. 15 The affiliate of the pension fund has written to the Monitor that it will not make an offer (First Report p. 16), and any other affiliate that does so must be removed from the process (First Report p. 16 The settlement request for non-cannabis equipment and the sale of the Aylmer facility, a 26,000-square-foot extraction and processing facility that has been the company’s production base at 250 Elm St.

the source

For more information:
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1.844.933.3636
(email protected)
entouragehealthcorp.com

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DEA And FDA Highlight How Marijuana Is Safer Than Alcohol And Opioids During Rescheduling Hearing’s Opening Day

Published

5 hours ago

June 30, 2026

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Attorneys for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) on Monday highlighted testimony about the medical benefits of marijuana and its relative safety compared to other substances such as alcohol and opioids in the opening day of a hearing. The Trump administration’s cannabis rescheduling proposal.

Marijuana Moment spoke with several people in the audience for Monday’s hearing to find out how the testimony is going, despite the proceedings not being broadcast live to the public at the request of one congressman and others.

According to those sources, DEA attorney James J Schwartz stated that the government is the proponent of the proposed rule to formally move cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), stating that the hearing is “not about the recreational use of marijuana” and “about regulation, not about legalization.”

“The government has presented no evidence to suggest that marijuana is not dangerous. All controlled substances are dangerous,
he said “However, controlled substances must be evaluated against the risks they pose, balanced against the medical benefits they provide.”

Dominic Chiapperino, director of the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Controlled Drug Evaluation and Research and one of two DEA witnesses, testified about how federal health officials formed their recommendation to reschedule cannabis.

Opponents of the reform have used a new two-part test that they argue is a bad departure from a previous analysis, although a DEA lawyer said the hearing is not about that issue, and Chiapperino said the new test is now considered “every time” a new analysis is done on a drug.

The FDA official said the agency compared marijuana to alcohol, opioids and other substances in its scheduling analysis, and found that marijuana’s daily harms were lower than all or most of those comparators.

Cannabis is associated with fewer overdose deaths than comparable substances, Chiapperino said, and when reports of cases involving deaths mention marijuana, the deaths are often attributed to secondary incidents such as accidents or self-inflicted harm. Marijuana’s potential for overdose deaths is “much lower” than other Schedule I drugs and Schedule II drugs. Rather than opioids, the FDA official said.

As for withdrawal in regular users, Chiapperino testified that cannabis has symptoms similar to tobacco, including irritability, but alcohol has “more of a withdrawal syndrome,” which can include seizure and death.

Also on Monday, the lawyers of some of the parties against the reorganization had the opportunity to cross Chiapperino.

Kevin Sabet, president and CEO of the prohibitionist organization Smart Approaches to Marijuana, who was also invited to attend the hearing, said in a video posted on social media that it is “surreal” to see the government arguing that cannabis’s medical uses and relatively minor harms are “just lying through their teeth.”

The DEA “is in a very awkward position to argue the opposite of what it’s been arguing for the last 50 years, the opposite of what the science says, the opposite of what the evidence is,” he said, “which is, of course, to argue against the government that marijuana is more harmful than we thought, not less harmful.”

In short, the government has so far been repeating the inappropriate comparison of marijuana to alcohol, heroin, and other opioids. And duplicating the unprecedented new two-part test for medical use now accepted, which overturns a century of work in this medical…

— Smart Approaches to Marijuana (@learnaboutsam) June 29, 2026

On Tuesday, opponents of the review will have an opportunity to cross-examine the FDA official, and the government’s second witness, Corey Burchman, a doctor from New Hampshire, will begin his testimony. The DEA announced in a filing last week that it will do so Testify on “How Medical Marijuana Provides Medical Benefit to Pain Patients.”

On Monday, a DEA attorney said Burchman would “describe the real-world impacts of treating pain with marijuana instead of opioids” based on his experience with both and discuss how he has “personally transitioned patients from opioids to marijuana for their pain.”

The witness will also testify about the differences between cannabis and opioids in terms of withdrawal and overdose, he said.

Before the hearing began, marijuana reform activists rallied They held a press conference outside DEA headquarters to highlight how they feel of the process – criticizing the fact that supporters of the reform were not invited to participate and that the proceedings are not reproduced live, despite the “transparency” oath of the officials.

DEA Administrator Terrance Cole only organizations and individuals opposed to marijuana reform have been invited to the hearing as a designated participant – telling followers that they do not meet the definition of “interested person” to participate because they are not “affected or prejudiced by any rule or proposed rule that may be issued.”

last week, Marihuana Moments sent petitions to DEA Chief Administrative Law Judge Derek Julius and DEA Administrator Cole asking for them reverse the decision to ban the public from tuning into the cannabis hearing via live stream. A Congressmen and other journalists later joined that request.

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The opponents who are participating in the hearing submitted statements last week anticipate the anti-marijuana arguments they intend to make during the procedure.

The hearing it will end before July 15.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche in April He issued an order that immediately reclassified the state’s licensed medical cannabisas well as marijuana products approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under Schedule I through Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).

According to a separate order signed by the acting attorney general, the upcoming hearing will include Class III marijuana.

Preliminary hearing process on the marijuana redistricting process initiated by the Biden administration It was halted last year amid allegations of improper communications and witness selection.

the current The marijuana redistricting process is being challenged in several ways which have been upheld by a federal Court of Appeals. those pieces of State attorneys general have filed lawsuits against cannabis reform, Opponents of marijuana legalization and a a cannabis-based biopharmaceutical corporation.

Meanwhile, the reorganization of state-licensed medical cannabis is already having a major impact.

The Congressional Research Service published a report on the current rescheduling of cannabis Certified patients with medical marijuana from state licensed dispensaries are now eligible for Class III. “The order appears to allow end users to use marijuana medically without a CSA prescription,” he says.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has published a Draft update to a gun purchase form to recognize the legal status of medical marijuana in the reprogramming. The revised section of the question states that only the “recreational use or possession of marijuana” is federally prohibited, omitting the prior form’s mention of medical cannabis.

The US Treasury and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) said they plan to issued new tax guidelines for the marijuana industry after reprogramming. The reform will benefit state-licensed marijuana businesses by allowing them to take federal tax deductions that are currently prohibited under IRS Code Section III, known as Section 280E.

Even the DEA, which has long opposed cannabis legalization and accused the Biden administration of stalling the initiative in the reorganization process, has done so. It launched a registration process for legal marijuana businesses in the state to take advantage of the federal benefits that come with the reform.

The Department of Transport, on the other hand, issued guidelines stating this use Legal medical cannabis in the state is still no excuse for truck drivers to test positive for drugspilots and other safety-sensitive personnel.

A congressional committee recently Federal officials voted to block further steps to reschedule cannabishowever lawmakers from both parties told Marihuana Moment they don’t think that provision will be enacted become law

user photo Carlos Gracia.

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cbdMD welcomes White House call for fair treatment of hemp-derived products

Published

1 day ago

June 29, 2026

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cbdMD welcomes the Administration’s call for Congress to ensure fair treatment of hemp-derived products under federal law and calls for immediate action to revise hemp regulations to ensure fair treatment of hemp products under federal law.

In a letter to congressional leadership this week, the White House Office of Management and Budget identified hemp reform as a priority strongly supported by the Administration. The petition calls on Congress to ensure fair treatment of hemp-derived products by maintaining access to appropriate full-spectrum CBD products, and by maintaining Congress’ intent to reduce products that pose health risks. The administration also urged Congress to pass a responsible federal framework or at least extend the current implementation period to give lawmakers time to get policy right. The request builds on the president’s previous public statements urging lawmakers to protect access to full-spectrum CBD products that millions of Americans rely on.

“We are encouraged to see the administration so clearly championing the responsible, scientific hemp products that consumers depend on every day,” said Ronan Kennedy, CEO of cbdMD. “cbdMD has always believed that the future of this category is built on quality, transparency, and clear rules that separate them from bad actors. A federal framework that protects consumer access, promotes safety, and provides certainty to companies that provide certainty is what this industry and the people it serves deserve. We applaud the policymakers who are working to achieve this outcome.”

“We believe CbdMD is purpose-built for this next phase of the market,” added Kennedy. “Our focus remains on serving our customers with reliable and effective products, supporting responsible regulation and building long-term value for our shareholders as the category continues to evolve. Along the way, we will continue to evaluate the opportunities this evolving environment holds.”

For more information:
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