Lawyer Who Sued Federal Health Agency Over Marijuana Rescheduling Will Now Work There, With Focus On Psychedelics

Zorn has also been a central figure in the push to move cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), representing a coalition of doctors that sought to suspend administrative hearings on the currently stalled process that was initiated under the Biden administration.

An attorney with a history of suing top federal agencies in pursuit of marijuana and psychedelics reform and government transparency is joining the Trump administration, serving under U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as deputy general counsel, Marijuana Moment has learned.

Matthew Zorn—who is well known for taking HHS and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to court under both the Biden and Trump administrations while representing scientists, military veterans and others to advance reform issues—will now be uniquely positioned to promote key policy changes, including those that align with what other top administration officials have recently advocated for within agencies such as the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

Two sources familiar confirmed the hiring with Marijuana Moment, including one who said Zorn is, at least internally, being referred to as the “psychedelics czar” within HHS.

Zorn will be assuming a critical role—and he was specifically recruited with the intent to have him spearhead the agency’s psychedelics policy work, the sources said. Kennedy has personally advocated for ambitious reforms around plant medicine, including at one point as a Democratic presidential candidate calling for legalization of psychedelic therapy.