Donald Trump may be the one to push marijuana a step closer to legalization — and Bill Maher says we have him to thank (sort of).

According to multiple reports, Trump is considering finalizing the rescheduling of cannabis, moving it from a Schedule I narcotic (the same classification as heroin) down to Schedule III. That shift wouldn’t make marijuana fully legal nationwide, but it would mark a major step toward broader legalization or decriminalization.

Given that legalization is hugely popular across the political spectrum — and Trump’s current approval ratings are at historic lows — the move could be a way for him to score some much-needed political points. But Maher says the credit should go to… himself.

Before getting to the cannabis conversation, Maher opened Friday’s Real Time monologue by roasting Trump’s reported meeting with Vladimir Putin in Alaska.

“What it’s all about is trying to end this horrible war in Ukraine,” Maher said. “We’re going on for too long, and Trump and Putin, they finally said, ‘look, let’s just meet thug to thug’… So they’ve already met. They figured out the plan. They drove in the car, just them and the translators, very romantic. Then we’ll see. And then they had a working breakfast, and then what they call a bilateral lunch, that’s where the chef comes out and carves up Ukraine.”

Maher then shifted gears, telling his audience: “I saved the best story for last. Marijuana. You’ve heard of it? Well, it’s forever. It’s been a schedule I drug, which to all US potheads and any reasonable person is really just such a stupid thing. It’s in there with the worst sort of horrible drug, like heroin. Trump is considering reclassifying it as a much less dangerous Schedule III drug. And they say it wasn’t smart to have dinner with him.”

Maher, a longtime cannabis enthusiast, was (mostly) joking — but he couldn’t resist tying the news to his own headline-making dinner with Trump earlier this year.

While Maher teased Trump about taking the leap, the effort to reschedule cannabis actually started under President Joe Biden. Back in May 2024, Biden announced plans to reclassify marijuana to Schedule III, but that initiative was left unfinished when he left office.