Marijuana Moment: Trump Signs Executive Order To Reclassify Marijuana By Removing It From Schedule I

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Marijuana will be federally rescheduled under an executive order signed by President Donald Trump on Thursday.

The directive also aims to address federal hemp laws to promote access to full-spectrum CBD that could be covered under federal health insurance plans.

Months after Trump said a decision on the cannabis reform proposal was imminent, the president issued the directive for agencies to begin moving forward with the plan to transfer cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).

“We have people begging for me to do this, people that are in great pain for decades,” Trump said. “This action has been requested by American patients suffering from extreme pain, incurable diseases, aggressive cancers, seizure disorders, neurological problems and more—including numerous veterans with service-related injuries and older Americans who live with chronic medical problems that severely degrade their quality of life.”

The president emphasized that his order “doesn’t legalize marijuana in any way, shape or form, and in no way sanctions its use as a recreational drug.”

This marks one of the most significant developments in federal marijuana policy since its prohibition a half a century ago, with a Schedule III reclassification recognizing that marijuana has medical value and a lower abuse potential compared to other Schedule I drugs like heroin.

Rescheduling will not federally legalize cannabis. But the policy change will allow state-licensed marijuana businesses to take federal tax deductions they’ve been deprived under an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) code known as 280E. It will also remove certain research barriers applied to Schedule I drugs.

The change may also spur additional states to modernize their own policies on cannabis, as some lawmakers have cited the federal government’s restrictive classification of marijuana as a reason they have been uncomfortable with enacting legalization or at least allowing medical use.

In addition to directing the attorney general to “take all necessary steps to complete the rulemaking process related to rescheduling marijuana to Schedule III of the CSA in the most expeditious manner in accordance with Federal law,” Trump’s executive order also urges Congress to examine updating the definition of hemp to ensure that full-spectrum CBD is accessible to patients. If lawmakers do so, it could mitigate some concerns in the sector about a recent spending bill the president signed with provisions that would broadly ban consumable hemp products.

A further redefinition of hemp would be part of a novel proposal to allow Medicare recipients to access non-intoxicating CBD that’d be covered under the federal health care plan. To effectuate that, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will also be announcing “a model that will allow a number of CMS beneficiaries to benefit from receiving CBD under doctor recommendation at no cost,” a White House official said during a briefing earlier on Thursday that Marijuana Moment first reported leaked details from ahead of the signing event.

The CBD effort is a policy Trump seemed to endorse over the summer when he shared a video calling for that specific reform while promoting the health benefits of cannabidiol, particularly for seniors.

During the signing ceremony on Thursday, Trump noted strong public support for marijuana reform and said he has received numerous phone calls in support of rescheduling.

“I don’t think I received any calls on the other side of it,” he said.

“I promised to be the president of common sense, and that is exactly what we’re doing,” Trump said. “This is really something having to do with common sense, and it’s something having to do with the fact that so many people that I respect asked me to do—people that are having problems, big problems, that are having big problems with illness, with cancer in particular.”

President Donald J. Trump signs an Executive Order rescheduling marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III — recognizing legitimate medical uses and expanding medical marijuana and cannabidiol research to better support patients and doctors. pic.twitter.com/7NpPaLbNTl

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) December 18, 2025

Trump endorsed rescheduling—as well as industry banking access and a Florida adult-use legalization initiative—on the campaign trail last year. The president had been largely silent on the issue since taking office during his second term, until a briefing in August where in response to a reporter’s question he announced the administration would decide on rescheduling within weeks.

By moving forward with the plan, Trump is completing a process initiated under the Biden administration. That involved a scientific review by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)—which concluded that Schedule III is a more appropriate category for marijuana—as well as the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said on Thursday that the question of cannabis “has divided our country for many, many years, and there are valid claims on both sides.”

“On one side, patients and physicians attest that cannabinoids and THC can be have miraculous effects on chronic pain, on epilepsy, on PTSD, on chemotherapy induced nausea,” he said. “On the other side, there are valid claims about the negative impacts, about addiction, about psychosis, about adverse public health impacts and impacts, particularly on young people.”

Recent news reports revealed that Trump was planning to issue the executive order directing federal agencies to move ahead with cannabis rescheduling following a meeting with marijuana industry executives, Kennedy and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz. During that meeting, Trump reportedly phoned House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), who expressed his opposition to rescheduling cannabis.

The rescheduling announcement comes weeks after the president signed a key spending bill that would effectively ban most consumable hemp products, drawing criticism from stakeholders in the hemp industry who argue the policy change would eradicate the market.

Meanwhile, amid the heightened rumors that the Trump administration would be moving forward on marijuana rescheduling, multiple top congressional Democrats made the case that the reform would not go far enough—including one senator who said the move is only an attempt by the president to “gaslight” voters into thinking he legalized cannabis to boost his “pathetic” approval ratings.

Dozens of Republican members of Congress have urged Trump not to reschedule marijuana, arguing that it would harm public health and safety.

A White House fact sheet on the president’s order stresses that rescheduling “corrects the Federal government’s long delay in recognizing the medical use of marijuana and will vastly improve research on safety and efficacy.”

“The lack of appropriate research on medical marijuana and consequent lack of FDA approval leaves American patients and doctors without adequate guidance on appropriate prescribing and utilization, especially as just over half of older Americans using marijuana have discussed the usage with their healthcare provider,” it says. “Schedule III status will allow research studies to incorporate real-world evidence and models that can assess the health outcomes of medical marijuana and legal CBD products while focusing on long-term health effects in vulnerable populations like adolescents and young adults.”

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