The Trump administration has moved to reschedule marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III, but don’t expect to begin seeing headshops popping up everywhere.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche signed an order Thursday that reclassified state-licensed medical marijuana but did not legalize the drug — either medically or recreationally — at the federal level, The Associated Press reported.
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Blanche’s order does, however, give licensed medical marijuana companies a tax break and breaks down some barriers that prevented scientists from researching the medical potential of cannabis. The Trump administration framed the rescheduling as the first stepping stone into a broader marijuana reclassification.
So, what does this actually do?
In announcements preceding and following the signature, the Trump administration highlighted marijuana medical research as the reason for reclassification.
“These actions will enable more targeted, rigorous research into marijuana’s safety and efficacy, expanding patients’ access to treatments and empowering doctors to make better-informed healthcare decisions,” Blanche wrote on X.
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Trump’s reclassification order does not legalize marijuana at the federal level; cannabis remains a controlled substance under federal law.
The order clarifies that federal authorities won’t go after marijuana researchers trying to obtain state-licensed marijuana or cannabis products for their studies. Another major win for medical marijuana companies: for the first time, they’ll be able to deduct business expenses from their federal taxes.
What this doesn’t do
President Donald Trump, a famous teetotaler whose older brother lost his fight with alcoholism, emphasized that his administration’s plan for cannabis was not an attempt to legalize marijuana federally. When he signed the executive order that kicked off reclassification in December, he warned that recreational use has negative effects.
“If it’s abused, it’s never safe to use powerful, controlled substances in recreational matters, and especially in this case, if you take a look, illegal and unregulated drugs, very, very bad thing,” Trump said.
The order signed Thursday does nothing to bring the medical and recreational marijuana industries into compliance with federal law. Despite the federal ban, 40 states and the District of Columbia allow the sale of medical marijuana. Of those, 24 states and the District of Columbia allow adults to use it recreationally in small amounts.
Companies that sell recreational or even medical marijuana still cannot use major banks since Schedule III drugs are still controlled substances.
Additionally, most criminal penalties regarding cannabis stay the same.
Reclassification response
While the rescheduling announced Thursday fell short of the full legalization some hoped for, it’s still a big step toward the changes cannabis advocates have been pushing for decades.
The co-founder and chief brand officer of the cannabis company Curio Wellness, Wendy Bronfein, told CNBC the order removed obstacles that had hindered her research.
“While operators would still face a fragmented state-by-state system, the improved cash flow from rescheduling would support reinvestment, strengthen stability, and help build momentum for more consistent standards over time,” Bronfein said.
Others, like Shawn Hauser, a partner at the cannabis law firm Vicente LLP, said the move was only the start.
“This rescheduling is not the finish line — it is the final stage of a race we have been running for decades,” he said.
But Kevin Sabet, the CEO of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, a group opposed to marijuana legalization, disagreed with the administration’s move. He said there were better ways to increase marijuana research “without giving a tax break to Big Weed and sending a confusing message about marijuana’s harms to the American public.”
“With this move, we are now confronted with the most pro-drug administration in our history,” Sabet said in a text message to the AP. “Policy is now being dictated by marijuana CEOs, psychedelics investors, and podcasters in active addiction.”
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