President Donald Trump’s move to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug departs from the tenets of the Wyoming MAGA crowd that usually aligns with him, multiple state leaders said Wednesday.
Trump in a Dec. 18 executive order told his attorney general to start the process of shifting marijuana from “schedule I” — a category for drugs with a high potential for abuse and no accepted medical purpose — to “schedule III,” denoting less potential for abuse and some medial uses.
Wyoming Republican Party Chair Bryan Miller confirmed in a Wednesday interview with Cowboy State Daily that the state party maintains a no-tolerance approach toward marijuana, which is not legal in Wyoming.
The state GOP in 2022 passed a resolution opposing the legalization and decriminalization of both recreational and medical marijuana.
Ahead of the 2023 and 2025 legislative sessions, state party leaders reaffirmed that stance by denouncing in their legislative priority slates, Miller said.
He noted, however, that Trump isn’t legalizing the drug outright.
“I don’t think (our stance) is that great of a departure from what the president has actually put out there,” said Miller, pointing to the president’s emphasis on studying the drug more closely.
“I see what the president’s doing in trying to, basically, remove it as an issue by using any potential medical value … and turning it into more of a pharmaceutical that can be controlled differently,” he said.
In that vein, Miller indicated, reining the drug into the world of pharmaceutical regulation could lead to tighter monitoring.
Speaking for the party, he reiterated its resolution and priorities. Speaking for himself, Miller said, “I’m not a fan of marijuana in any form.”
He acknowledged that, "It’s not common (for the party) to move away from the make America great again agenda, in the state."
The proposed change still requires federal regulatory approval. If finalized, it could nudge federal policy toward a more tolerant approach to the drug, the Associated Press reported.
It will also trigger Wyoming’s attorney general into either changing Wyoming’s categories to match, or holding a contested hearing on why he will not.
Speaking to Cowboy State Daily last week, Wyoming Attorney General Keith Kautz did not venture opinions on the drug, but did note that Wyoming doesn't have a framework for prescribing it.
Not Alone There
Miller is not alone in that sentiment, especially in Wyoming,
State House Speaker Chip Neiman, R-Hulett, opposes legalization and decriminalization altogether, he told Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday.
Neiman doesn’t think the rest of the state majority favors embracing the drug either, he said.
“I don’t believe there’s that appetite for it in Wyoming,” he said. “Go to Colorado, go to other states dealing with the consequences of that.”
If Trump wants to do more research on the issue, perhaps his administration can “glean some of the positives” from that study, he added. But, “as far as turning it loose in Wyoming, I don’t see that happening at all.”
Both Neiman and Senate President Bo Biteman, R-Ranchester, are legislation gatekeepers in their respective chambers.
Biteman did not return a Cowboy State Daily voicemail request for comment by publication.
Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, R-Cody, who chairs the social-conservative state House group the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, echoed Neiman’s stance on easing any marijuana laws.
“The science is clear: marijuana is harmful,” Rodriguez-Williams said in a Wednesday email.
“The WYFC does not believe in legalizing something known to be harmful merely to raise revenue off of it,” the email says. “And with a WYFC House majority, we will not move to decriminalize marijuana anytime soon.”
It is unclear who comprises the state House Freedom Caucus majority or if there is one. Thirty-three Republican House members of the 62-delegate House either told Cowboy State Daily they’re not members or had been previously identified as not being members, in a November survey.
That figure includes two post-publication statements that followed the initial reporting of 31 self-proclaimed nonmembers.
The House also contains six Democrats who aren’t within the Republican group, leaving the number of confirmed Freedom Caucus members at 23 or fewer.
Rodriguez-Williams did not immediately respond to a request for clarification.
President Is Right Though, Says Americans For Prosperity
Tyler Lindholm, Wyoming state director for libertarian-leaning group Americans for Prosperity, told Cowboy State Daily that Trump is correct on this one, and that the president’s order marks a rare departure from MAGA Wyomingites.
“Absolutely I think it’s a big departure,” said Lindholm, whom Neiman unseated from the state House in the 2020 primary election. “Typically, those individuals get behind Trump on anything and everything he says. I think (the distinction) is actually good news — that they’re able to think on their own.”
But, added Lindholm, “I do think Trump is right in this regard: it needs to be looked at.”
Not all states have the perfect approach, said Lindholm, who parried that Wyoming is “thankfully” different from Colorado.
But he said the Cowboy State should be open to reconsidering how its criminal justice system approaches possession and use.
“Do we still want to criminally prosecute those people?” he asked. “I think Wyoming needs to have that conversation in each community.”
That’s especially as surrounding states legalize and “hot box” it, he said.
Marijuana is illegal in Idaho, but fully legal in Montana and Colorado, and medicinally legal in Utah, Nebraska and South Dakota.
As for medicinal marijuana, Lindholm said the government shouldn’t be prosecuting for that.
“That’s a better conversation (to have) between a doctor and a patient, versus the government and the constituent,” he said.
Still, added Lindholm, states should push for sovereignty over this issue.
Landon Brown’s Idea
The Republican state representative who has co-sponsored decriminalization legislation called Trump’s maneuver a stroke of Republican unorthodoxy.
It may signify a step closer to legalization, he said.
“You’ve got Trump going against something that is so blatantly hard-fought, and such a strong belief in the state of Wyoming,” he said. “And yet Trump carried the state of Wyoming so strongly (in his elections).”
But like Miller, Rep. Landon Brown, R-Cheyenne, said the president could be emphasizing scientific study to confirm unknown factors about the drug.
“Anecdotal evidence” of marijuana’s medical capabilities pervades the American scientific sphere, said Brown. “But that could change, when there’s peer reviewed, scientific journals done by the federal government.”
Federal study and federal funding may both be more feasible with marijuana reclassified, he said.
Brown, like Neiman, said he does not believe the Wyoming Legislature wants to allow medical marijuana, however.
What Does The Fed Say?
The office of Interim U.S. Attorney for Wyoming Darin Smith said last week it was still waiting for guidance on whether the reschedule changes federal penalties.
In the meantime, Smith has vowed to “rigorously” prosecute marijuana offenses in the state’s federal jurisdictions
The Meat Of This Argument
Days before Trump released his order, the American Journal of Preventive Medicine published a study concluding that commercialization of cannabis sales may disproportionately affect adolescents with psychiatric illnesses or vulnerabilities, increasing psychiatric emergency incidents.
A health article the National Library of Medicine published three years prior asserts that cannabis can trigger acute psychotic symptoms. Young people with preexisting mental health vulnerabilities may be especially prone to that psychosis, the study adds.
“In light of the movements towards legalization of recreational cannabis, more research should focus on the potential harms related to cannabis use, to educate (users) and the public about risks related to its use,” wrote the authors, who represent multiple universities and health institutes.
Neiman referenced accounts like these.
“We’re talking about a product right now that is not ditch weed,” he said. “I just hate to see the door thrown open here, and (us) saying, ‘Hey, go for it.’”
Trump’s order, conversely, says the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found “credible scientific support” for using the drug to treat anorexia, nausea and vomiting, and pain.
“However,” says the order, “the lack of appropriate research on medical marijuana and consequent lack of FDA approval leaves American patients and doctors without adequate guidance on appropriate prescribing and utilization.”
Trump’s administration hopes that putting the drug into schedule III will let researchers vet its long-term health effects in vulnerable populations, like teens and young adults.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
