Trump will sign order to ease marijuana restrictions
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President Trump speaks during a roundtable discussion in the Roosevelt Room at the White House on Dec. 10. Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images
President Trump said Thursday he'll sign an executive order to relax federal restrictions on cannabis, instructing agencies to reclassify it as a less dangerous drug.
The big picture: Democrats and advocates have long pushed for the change. But the Wall Street Journal reported in August that Trump, courted by marijuana lobbyists and check-writing executives, was considering finishing what his opponents started.
- The Biden administration kicked off the review in 2022, but the effort stalled this January when an administrative judge postponed a hearing, leaving the rule in limbo as Trump took office.
- "It's going to have a tremendously positive impact," Trump said in the Oval Office.
Driving the news: The president's order would direct federal agencies to pursue reclassifying marijuana as a Schedule III substance, grouping it with drugs considered to have less abuse potential like Tylenol with codeine and anabolic steroids.
- Currently, cannabis is listed as a Schedule I drug, meaning it has high abuse potential and no accepted medical use. Other Schedule I drugs include heroin, LSD and peyote.
- The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid's Innovation Centers models will allow millions of Americans on Medicare to become eligible to receive CBD, as early as April of next year, said Mehmet Oz, the CMS head.
- Medicare Advantage also agreed to consider CBD for the 34 million Americans it covers, Oz added.
The intrigue: While some of the president's allies opposed easing restrictions, Trump said last year he would vote for a Florida amendment to legalize recreational marijuana. That initiative ultimately failed.
- Trump's order would not make marijuana federally legal for recreational use. But it would open doors for medical purposes and ease cannabis companies' tax burden.
Zoom out: The president's order applies to federal marijuana laws. Several individual states have already taken steps to relax weed restrictions.
- But federal restrictions have long kneecapped the industry, Axios' Herb Scribner reports. Because of marijuana's Schedule I status, companies can't deduct operating expenses under Internal Revenue Code Section 280E.
What they're saying: The reclassification "marks the most significant shift in federal drug policy in over half a century," said Shawn Hauser, a partner at cannabis-focused law firm Vicente LLP, which has worked with both the Biden and Trump administrations since 2022 to advance cannabis rescheduling and other federal reforms.
Yes, but: Douglas Berman, the executive director of The Ohio State University's Drug Enforcement and Policy Center, tells Axios that the change comes against the backdrop of other federal changes, including a a recent spending bill that criminalized certain hemp products.
Reality check: Rescheduling alone won't guarantee policies for nationwide access, Jordan Tishler, president of the Association of Cannabinoid Specialists, told Axios.
- "Rescheduling will not legalize cannabis for either medical or recreational use, nor will it make cannabis a prescribable drug," he said. "Only research and drug development that meets FDA's level of evidence will accomplish that."
By the numbers: Trump's team had been reviewing polls showing growing support for reclassification, Axios' Alex Isenstadt reports.
- Among U.S. adults, 64% believe using cannabis should be legal, according to a Gallup poll conducted earlier this year.
- A Pew Research Center survey from early 2025 similarly found that 66% of Democrats and Democratic leaners supported legalizing marijuana for both medical and recreational use. About 43% of Republicans and Republican leaders agreed.
- Pew found that just 11% of Americans say the drug should not be legal at all.
Go deeper: Trump signals marijuana pivot. Here's how federal and state cannabis laws work
