Tyson’s Throwing Haymakers at Federal Weed Laws

_{Filed Under: Smoked Out, Punched Up, Still Illegal}

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Mike Tyson did not show up to Fox News to sell edibles or plug a podcast. He came to swing. On June 30, he walked into America’s most corporate living room and said what Congress refuses to admit. Cannabis laws are a rigged system. They were built to punish and preserved to profit. He said it’s time to tear it all down.

This was not a solo act. Tyson brought backup. Kevin Durant, Ricky Williams, Dez Bryant, Allen Iverson, and Wyclef Jean all signed on to a letter urging President Trump to end the stall. Reschedule cannabis. Free nonviolent prisoners. Open banking to legal weed operators who are locked out like criminals while Wall Street shops for the next IPO.

This is not a vibe. It is a call for federal action. And it is long past due.

Cannabis is still sitting in Schedule I, the same class as heroin and bath salts. Back in 2023, the Department of Health and Human Services told the DEA to move it to Schedule III. That would allow research, remove criminal penalties, and admit the medical value that state voters already recognized a decade ago. But the DEA never moved. The paperwork is still sitting.

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President Trump’s new DEA nominee, Terrance Cole, faced the Senate and gave a masterclass in political fog. He said he would “carefully consider” rescheduling. He said nothing else. No commitment. No timetable. No plan. The administration took the recommendation and sat on it.

Meanwhile, Congress has every tool it needs. The Congressional Research Service made it plain. Lawmakers can reschedule cannabis themselves. The DEA is not required. There is no legal barrier. Just a political one. That silence is a choice.

Tyson is not asking for Congress to explore the issue. He is demanding that it act. And the silence from lawmakers is deafening.

Rand Paul has spoken in the past about cannabis reform. He co-sponsored the STATES Act. He supports medical use. But when it came time to back Tyson’s push, Paul had nothing to say. Not a quote. Not a post. Not a whisper. He is not alone. Most of Washington is hiding behind committee delays and procedural excuses.

That cowardice has a cost. There are still people in prison for growing or selling a plant that is now legal in 38 states. Some patients cannot access medicine because of red tape and reclassification delays. There are cannabis companies paying taxes like criminals, forced to operate in cash, barred from banks, and denied equity access because federal law still calls them drug dealers.

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Schedule III would not solve every problem. It would not legalize cannabis nationwide. It would not override state bans. It would not automatically release prisoners. But it would destroy the myth that weed has no medical value. It would open the door to research. It would remove the lie that justifies raids and arrests and workplace drug tests. It would pull the rug out from one of the last federal lies still standing.

Tyson is not selling a brand. He is confronting a system. He is not asking Trump to consider it. He is telling him the culture has had enough. We are done with politicians who call weed dangerous while cashing checks from alcohol lobbies. We are done with hearing about public health while legacy growers rot in cells.

If Trump wants to prove he is different, this is his moment. Reschedule cannabis. Free the people locked up for nothing. Stop making small business owners beg for basic banking. Stop pretending the DEA is still sorting this out. They are not. They are slow-walking reform while pretending to be neutral.

The culture sees through it now. And it is not waiting.

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