Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) recently published a new poll on Americans’ perspectives on the rescheduling of cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III classification (1). The organization states that its mission is to promote a health-first and science-based approach to cannabis policy.

The poll had been commissioned by SAM and was administered Wes Anderson and his firm On Message Inc. It was conducted from September 9–12, 2025 among 1000 nationally representative likely voters with a margin of error of ±3.1 percentage points and a 95% confidence level, the press release added. The mode of the poll was online, phone, and mixed.

Public Concerns About Cannabis Advertising to Children

One of the main findings noted in a September 25, 2025, press release stated that 62.7% of likely voters indicated they would be less likely to support rescheduling if it meant companies would have increased financial incentive to advertise to children (1).

“Americans don’t want Washington to hand Big Weed a massive tax break so addiction profiteers can spend more to push ads at our kids and hook the next generation of addicts,” stated Kevin Sabet, President and CEO of SAM, in the press release. “Rescheduling means more marketing pressure on children; voters across the spectrum say: no thanks.”

Voter Perspectives on Foreign Cartels and Cannabis Policy

The press release noted that other results in the poll include:

• Nearly 58% stated they would be less likely, and nearly 48% stated they would be much less likely, to support rescheduling if farms owned by foreign cartels received a tax break
• For this question, 48% of Democratic responders, 71% of Republican voters, and 53% of independents indicated they would be much less likely to support rescheduling in this situation

“This is not a partisan issue,” Sabet added. “Everyone who cares about the safety of their community and making sure foreign drug dealers don’t benefit from strategic policy errors is speaking up and letting their voices be heard. We hope that the president, as he faces a pivotal choice on marijuana, listens to the voters and not a big-money influence campaign.”

Federal Cannabis Rescheduling

In August 2025, SAM sent a letter addressed to President Donald Trump in response to a press conference earlier that month in which he had stated the administration was considering the rescheduling of cannabis (2,3).

“It’s very complicated subject, you know, the subject of marijuana,” President Trump had stated (2). “I’ve heard great things having to do with medical and I’ve had bad things having to do with just about everything else but medical, and you know, for pain and various things I’ve heard some pretty good things. But for other things I’ve heard some pretty bad things.”

The letter from SAM presented arguments against the rescheduling of cannabis, stating there was a lack of accepted medical use, a high potential for abuse, tax breaks could benefit drug dealers, drug testing in certain industries would be removed, and the perception on abuse potential would change.

“President Trump has an opportunity to make a stand for the safety of children across America by opposing the flawed proposal to reschedule marijuana,” stated Sabet in the SAM news article (3). “Marijuana has not been approved for any medical use by the FDA, nor has any raw plant. And it likely never will. It is an addictive drug with a high risk of abuse. That’s why it sat in Schedule I for decades and why it must stay there.”

References

1. Smart Approaches to Marijuana. New Poll: Voters Say No to Marijuana Rescheduling If It Boosts Ads to Kids and Gives Tax Breaks to Foreign Cartels. September 25, 2025. https://learnaboutsam.org/2025/09/new-poll-voters-say-no-to-marijuana-rescheduling-if-it-boosts-ads-to-kids-and-gives-tax-breaks-to-foreign-cartels/ (accessed September 29, 2025).
2. McEvoy, E. Trump Administration Examining Possibility of Cannabis Rescheduling. August 12, 2025. https://www.cannabissciencetech.com/view/trump-administration-examining-possibility-of-cannabis-rescheduling (accessed September 29, 2025).
3. McEvoy, E. Multiple Organizations Weigh in on Potential of Cannabis Rescheduling. August 28, 2025. https://www.cannabissciencetech.com/view/multiple-organizations-weigh-in-on-potential-of-cannabis-rescheduling (accessed September 29, 2025).