President Donald Trump confirmed Monday the White House is “very strongly” considering loosening federal restrictions on cannabis, a move that would boost the $32 billion legal industry’s margins and portend future, more ambitious reforms.
However, Trump declined to offer a precise timeline, meaning last week’s prediction that an executive order moving marijuana to Schedule 3 of the Controlled Substances Act could come as soon as Monday has already been proven wrong.
In response to a reporter’s questions during an unrelated event in the White House on Monday, Trump confirmed his interest in the issue.
“We are considering it,” he said.
“Because, uh, a lot of people want to see it — the reclassification — because it leads to tremendous amounts of research that can’t be done unless you reclassify.
“So we are looking at that very strongly.”
When will President Trump reclassify marijuana?
Last year, Trump became the first major party presidential candidate to endorse adult-use marijuana legalization.
Rumors that he was considering finishing a process to ease federal restrictions on cannabis first begun during the Biden administration began to pick up momentum over the summer.
The Washington Post first reported late Thursday that Trump informed top lawmakers and Cabinet officials he planned to reschedule marijuana.
CNBC reported Friday that the executive order could be issue as soon as Monday, though sources cautioned to MJBizDaily that later this week was also possible.
Trump reached his decision in part after an heavy lobbying from cannabis industry figures.
These include Trulieve Cannabis Corp. CEO Kim Rivers and Howard Kessler, the financier behind The Commonwealth Project, an advocacy organization that also supported the Biden administration’s ultimately fruitless rescheduling efforts.
Trump marijuana rescheduling and insurance coverage for CBD
The Commonwealth Project also produced a video extolling the benefits of the CBD cannabinoid for seniors that Trump reposted to his Truth Social account in September.
Sources close to the situation say that Trump’s marijuana rescheduling executive order may also direct certain CBD treatments to be covered by Medicare.
Reclassifying cannabis as a Schedule 3 drug would free the $32 billion legal cannabis industry from Internal Revenue Code Section 280E, which forbids most basic business deductions on federal tax returns.
However, its benefits for other efforts – including research – are less profound.
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According to Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM), an anti-cannabis organization that’s vowed to halt marijuana rescheduling, many of the same research restrictions would apply.
That’s partly because of language, for which SAM has taken credit, inserted into a research bill former President Joe Biden signed into law.
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