Marijuana advocates hoping for a substantial shift in federal marijuana policy in the last year of the Obama administration are likely to be disappointed.

At a briefing Friday, White House press secretary John Earnest said any progress on marijuana reform would need to come through Congress. President Obama had signaled his position a day earlier at the House Democratic retreat in Baltimore, saying marijuana reform is not on his list of end-of-term priorities, according to Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.).

Cohen said he asked the president whether he wanted to “reschedule” marijuana. The federal government considers marijuana a Schedule 1 controlled substance, but many lawmakers want to see it moved to Schedule 2, which acknowledges the plant’s medical potential. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders wants to remove marijuana from the federal list of controlled substances altogether. [

But Obama’s answer on the rescheduling was “disappointing,” Cohen said in an interview. “On marijuana, he gave the same answer as when I asked him seven years ago: ‘If you get me a bill, and get it on my desk, I’ll probably sign it,’ ” Cohen said (emphasis his). [Read more at The Washington Post]