Abu Sabet: President Trump on Thursday signed an executive order to speed up the rescheduling of marijuana from Schedule I to the less severe Schedule III, with the stated goal of expanding cannabis research.
The executive order will direct the attorney general to expedite the completion of the rescheduling process. The Biden administration had begun the rescheduling process but left the matter unfinished by the time Trump assumed office. In August, Trump signaled he was open to finishing where Biden left off.
“The executive order the President will sign today is focused on increasing medical research for medical marijuana and CBD — cannabidiol,” a senior administration official said in a press briefing. “The president is very focused on the potential medical benefits, and he has directed a commonsense approach that will automatically … start working to improve the medical marijuana and CBD research to better inform patients and doctors. That’s the primary goal.”
“I want to emphasize that the order I am about to sign is not the legalization or it doesn’t legalize marijuana in any way, shape or form, and in no way sanctions its use as a recreational drug,” Trump said in a press briefing from the Oval Office.
The president cautioned against recreational use of marijuana on Thursday, however, saying, ” 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.”
“Unless a drug is recommended by a doctor for medical reasons, just don’t do it. At the same time, the facts compel the federal government to recognize that marijuana can be legitimate in terms of medical applications when carefully administered,” he added.
Trump cited polling data that found people the vast majority of people are in favor of marijuana rescheduling.
Under the Controlled Substances Act, a Schedule I substance is considered to have no currently accepted medical uses. A Schedule III substance is believed to have a “moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence.”
Administration officials cited reviews conducted by the Department of Health and Human Services in 2023 that found more than 30,000 licensed health care practitioners across the country were able to recommend medical marijuana to more than 6 million registered patients for at least 15 conditions.
Trump was joined by physicians on Thursday who welcomed the reclassification.
Ilana Braun, a cancer psychiatrist and medical cannabis researcher at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, said cannabis has a potential role as a non-addictive substance for managing anxieties during cancer care.
“Rescheduling allows us to ask these questions rigorously, about dosing, about safety and who may benefit most,” Braun said. “This research reflects the best of federal investment helping people not only live longer, but live better.”
Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, also defended the move during the press conference.
“We cannot close our eyes to research and the opportunity that we are hearing from patients that, for some of them, cannabis can solve their problem,” Volkow said. “And so, what we need to do is do research.”
The executive order will have no impact on criminal penalties or the recreational use of marijuana.
Rescheduling to Schedule III would also allow marijuana businesses to deduct expenses or add credits to their annual federal taxes, something businesses dealing with Schedule I and II substances are not permitted to do.
Senior administration officials declined to say whether Trump was considering expanding recreational use of marijuana as well.
BP/SM
