Cannabis Industry Optimism Grows As Trump Signals Marijuana Rescheduling, Here’s When Marijuana Could Move To Schedule III

President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order on Thursday aimed at moving marijuana to a lower federal drug classification, according to reports. The move would ease certain restrictions but stop short of full legalization, reported CNN, citing a source familiar with the plans and a senior White House official.

The order would reclassify cannabis from a Schedule I drug to a Schedule III drug under the US Controlled Substances Act.

A Schedule I drug classification implies a substance with a high potential for abuse, no accepted medical use, and a lack of accepted safety for medical supervision. A Schedule III drug is considered a substance with accepted medical uses, even though carrying risks, like certain opioids, Tylenol with codeine, ketamine, and anabolic steroids/testosterone.

According to a White House official, the signing was scheduled for Thursday, though the timeline could shift. Trump highlighted the issue recently, saying he is considering reclassification “very strongly.”

“We are considering that because 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,” Trump said on Monday.

Cannabis Sector Reacts

The prospect of rescheduling has sparked responses from across the cannabis sector, as industry experts and executives assess its regulatory and commercial implications.

“The Trump administration is highly incentivized to act as they are facing declining approval ratings among young voters, so I think rescheduling will finally happen,” Ryan Hunter, chief revenue officer at Spherex, said. “We hope it will at least be Schedule III, as Schedule II would be a nothing burger, while Schedule III would dramatically reduce the federal tax burden for operators.”

Brian Vicente, founding partner at the leading cannabis law firm Vicente LLP, called rescheduling a “historic change.” He said the policy change would have “will have a massive, positive impact on thousands of state-legal cannabis businesses across the country who will no longer suffer from a crippling tax burden.”

Lana Phillips, senior specialist at Planet of The Vapes, an online retailer focused on dry herb vaporizers and vaporization education, said “rescheduling shows that federal policy is starting to catch up with science, public opinion, and how consumers actually use cannabis today.”

Eric Berlin, head of the US and global Cannabis teams at Dentons, underscored that point.

“Rescheduling cannabis to Schedule III affirms what physicians and patients have known for years: Cannabis has currently accepted medical uses in the United States and poses less risk than Schedule I or II substances,” Berlin said. “The change will lead to even more robust research and data-driven medicine to unlock the plant’s full therapeutic potential.”

For operators, the biggest change may be on the tax side, he added. “It [rescheduling] also means that Section 280E (…) will no longer apply to cannabis, so state-legal operators will be taxed like any other business, allowing them to invest in growth, compliance and safe, legal, affordable access to cannabis.”