President Trump signed an executive order Thursday that reclassifies marijuana as a less dangerous drug and could open new avenues for medical research. This is a major shift in federal drug policy, inching closer to what many states have done.
The switch would remove marijuana from its current classification as a Schedule I drug, along with heroin and LSD. Cannabis instead becomes a Schedule III substance, along with ketamine and some anabolic steroids.
The Drug Enforcement Administration’s reclassification would not make the drug legal for adult recreational use nationwide, but it could change how the drug is regulated and reduce the heavy tax burden on the cannabis industry.
The Republican president said he has been flooded with calls in support of the move and its potential to help patients. “There are people who are begging me to do this, people who are in a lot of pain,” he said.
Medical marijuana is currently allowed in 40 states and Washington, D.C., and many states have also legalized recreational use. However, US laws remain strict and people may be subject to federal prosecution.
The Justice Department under President Trump’s Democratic predecessor Joe Biden had previously proposed reclassifying marijuana as a Schedule III substance. Unlike Biden, Trump received no overt encouragement from the entire party for this move. Some Republicans voiced opposition to any changes and urged President Trump to maintain current standards.
Such changes typically require a difficult process, including a public comment period, with tens of thousands of responses received from across the country. When President Trump took office in January, the DEA was still in the review process. President Trump ordered the process to proceed as quickly as legally possible, but the exact timeline remained unclear.
shows that Americans support a more relaxed approach. Support for marijuana legalization has increased from just 36% in 2005 to 64% this year. But that number is down slightly from a few years ago, largely due to declining support among Republicans, Gallup said.
President Trump’s order also calls for expanded research and expanded access to CBD. CBD is a legal and increasingly popular cannabis-derived product whose benefits are being debated by experts for treating conditions such as pain, anxiety, and sleep problems.
Dr. Mehmet Oz, director of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said a new Medicare pilot program will make legal cannabis-derived CBD available to seniors for free with a doctor’s recommendation.
Still, the changes in marijuana are not universally welcomed. More than 20 Republican senators, several of them staunch allies of President Trump, signed a letter this year urging the president to keep marijuana a Schedule I drug.
The group, led by North Carolina Sen. Ted Budd, argued that marijuana remains dangerous and that changes to marijuana would “undermine our powerful efforts to make America great again.” They also argued that marijuana negatively impacts users’ physical and mental health, as well as road and workplace safety.
“The only winners in the rescheduling will be bad actors like Communist China, and Americans will be forced to pay the price,” the letter said, referring to China’s position in the cannabis market.
Early in the second Trump administration, the Justice Department showed little interest in discussing marijuana rescheduling, which faced strong resistance from within the Drug Enforcement Administration under the Biden administration, according to a former U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid retaliation.
President Trump has made a campaign against other drugs, particularly fentanyl, a centerpiece of his second term, and has ordered U.S. military strikes against Venezuela and other vessels the regime says are carrying drugs. He signed another executive order declaring fentanyl a weapon of mass destruction.
Jack Riley, a former deputy director of the DEA, supported focusing on the drug war as a national security priority, but said the marijuana rescheduling sends conflicting messages.
“Trump is blowing up ships in Latin America that he claims are loaded with fentanyl and cocaine, all the while loosening regulations that allow for broader exposure to first-level drugs,” said Riley, who was running to head the Drug Enforcement Administration upon Trump’s return to the White House. “That’s clearly a contradiction.”
Opponents, including the group Smart Approaches to Marijuana, have vowed to sue if the reclassification goes through.
Meanwhile, some marijuana advocates want the government to go further and treat cannabis like alcohol. President Trump has not committed to major measures like decriminalizing marijuana, and said Thursday that he encourages his children not to use drugs.
Still, he said, “the facts force the government to acknowledge that marijuana can have legitimate medical uses.” And it’s part of the health care landscape in many states.
Currently, 30,000 licensed health care professionals are authorized to recommend its use to more than 6 million patients with at least 15 medical conditions, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has revealed.
The Food and Drug Administration has found reliable scientific support for its use in treating medical conditions related to anorexia, nausea, vomiting, and pain. Elderly people in particular use it to treat chronic pain, which affects one in three people in that age group.
Whitehurst and Barrow contributed to The Associated Press.
