On Aug. 11, when President Donald Trump was asked about rescheduling cannabis on the federal narcotics list, he said he’d “heard great things†about medical cannabis — especially for pain — but that the policy is complicated.
West Virginians know too well how right he is. The question is who will help him navigate the complexity in a way that actually helps people. The good news is that, in 2025, West Virginia sent the answer to Washington: Sen. Jim Justice and Rep. Riley Moore, both R-W.Va.
They know what’s at stake because they lived it with us.
In 2017, West Virginia had the nation’s highest rate of opioid overdose deaths — about 50 per 100,000 people, nearly three times the national average. That same spring, headlines reported that fatal overdoses had overwhelmed our state’s burial assistance program.
In April 2017, then-Gov. Justice signed Senate Bill 386 — the Medical Cannabis Act. At the signing, he said, “I think all of us feel like we are doing something good for families out there ... . We have done something that is goodness in my book ... . Now, let’s try to help as many people as we possibly can.†That’s the North Star.
Moore did his part, too. As a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates, he backed SB 386 because, as he wrote in 2019, “the medical and scientific communities have been clear: Medical cannabis can help limit the damaging effects of opioid addiction.†He was blunt about the bureaucracy that stalled the program after passage: “We simply can’t afford these inexplicable, bureaucratic delays. The lives of our friends, families and neighbors are at stake. It’s time for a change.†Later, as state treasurer, he put a finer point on it: “Enough is enough.â€
That’s the Riley Moore we need in Congress today — the one who clears obstacles, instead of creating them.
In the House Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Subcommittee, Moore sat on the panel that advanced a bill with two jabs at medical cannabis patients: one rider that blocks the Department of Justice from using funds to reschedule or deschedule cannabis (the only way Trump can affect scheduling), and another that would restore DOJ authority to prosecute certain state-legal medical dispensaries, undermining the very programs patients rely on.
The subcommittee moved the bill forward because GOP leadership said it would not offer amendments. However, this month, when the full House Appropriations Committee takes up the CJS budget bill, he can fix this.
With those roadblocks off the table, Justice and Moore can explain to the president why rescheduling is the start, not the finish line.
Trump has heard “great things†about medical cannabis. West Virginians have, too — from men and women injured on the job, from parents praying through the night, from veterans who only want one full night of sleep. Rescheduling can help research and attitudes, but the greater thing is pairing it with a federal medical framework that ensures safe products, trains clinicians, restores Second Amendment rights, provides insurance pathways and enables hospitals and long-term-care facilities to accommodate medical cannabis patients without fearing federal penalties.
This is where Sen. Justice’s experience matters. He governed through the worst of our pain crisis and chose to act for families. As a U.S. senator, he can help build a bipartisan path that puts patients first, respects state leadership and directs HHS and the FDA to design a modern, botanical-appropriate framework for cannabis medicines. That means standards that fit complex plant therapeutics, not a copy-and-paste of rules built for tobacco or adult-use products. It means education for clinicians about the endocannabinoid system. And it means a path that brings state programs into alignment without ripping medicine out of patients’ hands.
To be clear: This is complicated. West Virginians don’t shy away from hard problems but engineer them into solutions. The good news is that we don’t have to start from scratch. Forty states have already shown how medical cannabis can be regulated responsibly. Congress’ job is to protect those gains, remove federal tripwires and create the roadmap for the next stage: safe, affordable, clinically integrated access.
