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Key Takeaways
- Wyoming Attorney General Keith Kautz blocked the federal rescheduling of cannabis, keeping it as Schedule I under state law.
- Kautz stated that Wyoming has no medical marijuana program, making federal rescheduling inconsistent with state laws.
- Other states, like Alabama and Tennessee, are also opposing the federal rescheduling of cannabis, reflecting a broader trend.
- The decision keeps patients in Wyoming from accessing medical cannabis, forcing them to look to neighboring states or the illicit market.
- Wyoming’s refusal to legalize cannabis keeps potential tax revenue out of state budgets, with significant economic implications.
NORTH AMERICA, WYOMING – Wyoming Attorney General Keith Kautz officially blocked the state from following the federal government’s April cannabis rescheduling decision. Because Wyoming had no state medical marijuana program to begin with, the decision was not a surprise, keeping all marijuana products at Schedule I under state law.
On Tuesday July 7th, Wyoming Attorney General Keith Kautz issued a final decision maintaining marijuana as a Schedule I controlled substance under the Wyoming Controlled Substances Act. The ruling came in direct response to a federal rescheduling action that moved state-licensed medical cannabis and certain FDA-approved marijuana products to Schedule III.
Kautz filed a formal objection on May 28th. A public hearing followed on June 18, where eight written comments were submitted, split evenly between those who supported and opposed rescheduling. One person testified in person, arguing for keeping marijuana at Schedule I. After reviewing the testimony, the commissioner issued a final ruling: all marijuana products remain Schedule I in Wyoming.
The ruling stays in effect unless the Wyoming Legislature changes it through statute.
What Was the Federal Cannabis Rescheduling Order, and What Did It Actually Do?
The April DOJ rule did not legalize marijuana at the federal level. It specifically moved cannabis products covered by a state medical marijuana license, or included in an FDA-approved drug, from Schedule I to Schedule III of the federal Controlled Substances Act.
Schedule I substances are classified as having no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. Schedule III substances, by contrast, are recognized as having accepted medical uses and a moderate potential for dependence. Placing cannabis in Schedule III was a major acknowledgment from the federal government that cannabis has legitimate medical value.
According to Pew Research, about 90% of Americans, support medical cannabis legalization. Acting AG Blanche also announced plans for an expedited hearing to pursue full rescheduling of marijuana beyond just the medical context.
However, states with trigger laws that automatically mirror federal scheduling changes were given a window to object. Wyoming used that window.
Why Did Wyoming’s Attorney General Push Back on Federal Cannabis Rescheduling?
AG Kautz outlined two reasons in his final decision.
First, he argued that the FDA-approved marijuana-related medications most relevant to this discussion are already properly classified under Wyoming law. Dronabinol sits at Schedule III, Cesamet at Schedule II, and Epidiolex was removed from controlled substance classification in Wyoming back in 2020. From his position, the federal rule did not require any additional action on those specific products.
Second, and more fundamentally, Wyoming has no state medical marijuana program. The Wyoming Legislature has never legalized medical cannabis, never approved a licensing scheme for it, and never recognized another state’s medical marijuana licenses. Under those conditions, Kautz concluded that rescheduling marijuana tied to a state medical license would directly contradict the position the legislature has taken for decades.
His final statement was clear: rescheduling marijuana in Wyoming is a job for legislators, not for administrative rulemaking. The decision rests with the Wyoming Legislature.
Is Wyoming the Only State Pushing Back on Federal Cannabis Rescheduling?
No, and that is a significant part of this story.
Wyoming’s situation is playing out in at least two other prohibition-leaning states. Alabama’s Department of Public Health voted to object to the federal rescheduling, citing the need for more time to assess how implementation would work at the state level. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed legislation this session specifically to block any automatic review that could have triggered medical cannabis access under the state’s own trigger law.
These moves show a clear pattern forming among states with Republican-led legislatures that do not have medical cannabis programs.
States in this position now face a genuine political question: continue blocking access at the state level, or let federal rescheduling do what decades of advocacy could not.
What Does Wyoming’s Prohibition Mean for Patients Who Need Medical Cannabis?
This is where the human cost of this decision comes into focus.
Wyoming residents dealing with chronic pain, PTSD, epilepsy, or other conditions that medical cannabis is known to help have no legal pathway to access it in their state. Research shows that cannabis has proven benefits for a range of conditions, and the federal government officially acknowledged its medical value with the April rescheduling order. For patients in Wyoming, that acknowledgment changes nothing in practice.
People who want access to medical cannabis are left with three options: travel to a neighboring state that allows it, navigate the unregulated illicit market, or go without. None of those are good outcomes, and the ones most affected tend to be older patients, veterans, and people with serious chronic conditions.
Around the country, 40 states and the District of Columbia have enacted medical cannabis programs serving six million patients, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. Wyoming patients are simply not among them, and the latest decision ensures that remains the case for the foreseeable future.
What Is the Economic Cost of Keeping Cannabis at Schedule I in Wyoming?
Cannabis tax revenue has become a real line item for state budgets across the country. In 2025 alone, legalization states collected more than $4.5 billion in cannabis tax revenue, according to the Marijuana Policy Project. Seven of those states each collected over $200 million individually. Since the first state legalized recreational cannabis roughly 12 years ago, the total has surpassed $28 billion nationally.
Wyoming, meanwhile, collects none of it.
That revenue goes toward education, public health programs, infrastructure, and drug treatment in other states. A medical cannabis program in Wyoming would not immediately generate recreational tax revenue, but it would lay groundwork for an industry that neighboring states have already built. Colorado, for one, has seen billions in cannabis revenue flow through its economy since 2014.
For a state with a population under 600,000 and a budget that relies heavily on energy extraction revenues, leaving that economic door completely shut is a policy choice that carries real financial consequences.
What Comes Next for Cannabis Policy in Wyoming?
The commissioner’s ruling is explicit on one point: any change has to come from the Wyoming Legislature. Administrative rulemaking cannot get marijuana out of Schedule I in the state. That puts the burden on lawmakers who have so far been unwilling to act.
History in Wyoming shows a pattern of near-misses. A bipartisan adult-use cannabis bill passed out of a House committee in 2021 but stalled before the session ended. A decriminalization bill backed by the House speaker in 2022 never received a vote despite having GOP support. Ballot initiatives to legalize medical cannabis failed to qualify for the 2024 ballot.
A 2020 poll found that 54% of Wyoming residents supported allowing adults to legally possess cannabis. That number has likely grown as national opinion has continued to shift. The public is further ahead on this issue than the legislature.
The federal rescheduling process is also not finished. Acting AG Blanche has called for an expedited hearing to pursue full rescheduling, and the conversation at the federal level is moving faster now than at any point in recent history. At some point, continued state-level prohibition becomes harder to justify politically, especially with a Republican president pushing the federal rescheduling forward.
Wyoming will get there eventually. The question is how long patients in the state have to wait.
Frequently Asked Questions
Wyoming Attorney General Keith Kautz has blocked the state from adopting the federal reclassification of medical cannabis to Schedule III, meaning all marijuana products remain Schedule I under Wyoming law.
On April 28, 2026, the U.S. DOJ rescheduled medical and FDA-approved marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III, though adult-use cannabis remains illegal at the federal level.
AG Kautz cited two reasons: FDA-approved marijuana medications are already classified under Wyoming law, and the state cannot adopt rules for a non-existent medical marijuana program.
Alabama and Tennessee are pushing back on cannabis rescheduling, with Alabama requesting more preparation time and Tennessee’s governor blocking a review that would have enabled medical access.
Wyoming remains one of about ten states without a medical cannabis program, as all legislative and ballot efforts to establish one have failed.
