President Trump signed an order Dec. 18, 2025, to reschedule cannabis from Schedule I (drugs with a high abuse risk) to Schedule III (drug with moderate to low potential for abuse). In this context, controlled and scheduled have the same meaning. Let\u2019s examine what is next in this process, who supports and opposes this change, and how it marijuana reclassified as Schedule III will affect the industry once it\u2019s set in stone.<\/p>\n
The Process Involving Reclassification of Marijuana
\nForemost, rescheduling did not automatically revoke federal laws that target cannabis, and interstate commerce of the drug remains illegal.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Controlled Substances Act [of 1970] does not grant any president the authority to unilaterally reschedule a drug,\u201d said Gillian Schauer, executive director of the nonpartisan Cannabis Regulators Association, which includes agencies from 46 states.<\/p>\n
Historically, these types of changes have been made through either a rulemaking process or an act of Congress. Trump\u2019s order directs Attorney General Pam Bondi to \u201ctake all necessary steps to complete the rulemaking process related to rescheduling marijuana to Schedule III\u201d of the Controlled Substances Act \u201cin the most expeditious manner in accordance with Federal law.\u201d<\/p>\n
Supporters and Opposers of Cannabis Rescheduling News
\nIlana Braun, a cancer psychiatrist and medical cannabis researcher at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, backs the cannabis rescheduling news.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis research reflects the best of federal investment helping people not only live longer, but live better,\u201d said Farber.<\/p>\n
Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, also defended the move to reschedule cannabis.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe 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,\u201d Volkow said. \u201cAnd so, what we need to do is do research.\u201d<\/p>\n
Key lawmakers who pleaded with Trump not to reclassify marijuana include House Speaker Mike Johnson, Sen. John Barasso, the majority whip, and U.S. Rep. Andy Harris, chair of the far-right Freedom Caucus and key author of the House language banning hemp-derived THC.<\/p>\n
Sen. Rick Scott said he also opposes Trump\u2019s rescheduling executive order, claiming cannabis is a \u201cgateway drug\u201d and saying his position is informed by his brother\u2019s death from a drug overdose.<\/p>\n
More than 45 Republican lawmakers signed letters asking the president not to execute reclassification of marijuana. Republican voters have also signaled dissatisfaction with marijuana legalization. Only 40% of self-identified Republican voters said cannabis should be legal, according to a November Gallup poll, compared to 85% of Democrats and 66% of independents.<\/p>\n
Industry Thoughts on Marijuana Reclassified
\nWhat does the reclassification of marijuana mean to the industry? Immediately, not much, though we should all keep an eye on cannabis rescheduling news. Sara Carter Bailey has been chosen as director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy and will play a central role in implementing the administration\u2019s drug policy agenda, including the reclassification of marijuana. Carter has voiced support for medical cannabis, while stating she doesn\u2019t have a \u201cproblem\u201d with legalization.<\/p>\n
Most pertinent in the move from Schedule I to Schedule III would be for tax purposes, as the change would effectively end the Section 280E disallowance of deductions and credits for the cannabis industry. Removal of Section 280E would increase gross income for cannabis businesses, as deductions would then be possible for necessary expenses, like rent, wages, utilities and marketing costs, as well as general business credits.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, large U.S. banks are still refusing to do business with the industry. Without formal reclassification as a Schedule III drug, \u201cit\u2019s still too early to reconsider our position, and we will not change our stance\u201d to begin offering cannabis businesses banking services, a top executive at JP Morgan Chase & Co. said in a memo. For this change to happen, it must come through a congressional bill such as the SAFER Banking Act, which specifically protects banks that do business with state-legal cannabis operators.<\/p>\n
In more cannabis rescheduling news, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) said Jan. 5, 2026, that its marijuana reclassified appeal process \u201cremains pending\u201d despite the president\u2019s executive order. However, when Trump issued the rescheduling order, he also directed Congress to reevaluate the policy to ensure continued access to full-spectrum CBD products. A federal agency will also be moving to cover such products for specific patients under Medicare and Medicaid.<\/p>\n
Courtesy of Cannacon.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President Trump signed an order Dec. 18, 2025, to reschedule cannabis from Schedule I (drugs with a high abuse risk) to Schedule III (drug with moderate to low potential for abuse). In this context, controlled and scheduled have the same meaning. Let\u2019s examine what is next in this process, who supports and opposes this change, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":372,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thefreeworldremedy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/cannabis-rescheduling-news-marijuana-reclassified-1200x895-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C895&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefreeworldremedy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefreeworldremedy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefreeworldremedy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefreeworldremedy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefreeworldremedy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=371"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thefreeworldremedy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":373,"href":"https:\/\/thefreeworldremedy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371\/revisions\/373"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefreeworldremedy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefreeworldremedy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefreeworldremedy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefreeworldremedy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}