Policymakers, Cannabis Industry Execs React to Trump’s Rescheduling Executive Order

President Donald Trump on Thursday issued an executive order to reclassify cannabis under federal drug laws, a historic and significant step in the cannabis policy reform movement. The executive order directs the Department of Justice to issue a final rule on a proposal initiated by the Biden administration that would move marijuana from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act and place it in the less restrictive Schedule III.

The executive order also directs administration leaders to work with Congress to give patients access to full-spectrum CBD products, “while still restricting the sale and access to products that cause serious and potentially life threatening health risks,” Marijuana Moment reported.

The order also calls on Congress to reexamine the federal definition of hemp to ensure that patients can obtain full-spectrum CBD products. Additionally, the president’s order directs the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to “develop research methods and models, to utilize real world evidence [and] to improve access to hemp-derived CBD products in accordance with federal law” while informing “standards of care.”

“I want to emphasize that the order I am about to sign is not the legalization or does it legalize marijuana in any way, shape or form, and in no way sanctions its use as a recreational drug,” Trump said at the signing ceremony for the executive order on Thursday.

“This reclassification order will make it far easier to conduct marijuana related medical research, allowing us to study benefits, potential dangers and future treatments,” the president added. “It’s going to have a tremendously positive impact.”

Policymakers Laud Rescheduling While Calling for Broader Reforms

The president’s executive order to reschedule cannabis drew immediate reaction from reform advocates and policymakers at all levels of government. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said that Trump’s move “is a step in the right direction—but more work must be done to decriminalize cannabis, ease overly restrictive banking regulations that stall industry progress in states where it is legal, and rectify the harms done by the War on Drugs.”

“I remain committed to the SAFER Banking Act and the Cannabis Administration & Opportunity Act to accomplish these goals,” Schumer wrote on the social media platform X.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis called on the federal government to continue its progress on cannabis policy reform, suggesting that such action is overdue.

“To be blunt, it’s far past time for the federal government to catch up to Colorado and many other states and get rid of arcane federal policies on cannabis that aren’t based in reality and hurt Colorado small businesses and public safety,” the Democratic governor wrote in a statement.

“Colorado’s cannabis industry is the gold standard, ensuring that products are safe and regulated,” he added. “It’s good to see the federal government finally following suit, but it’s frustrating it’s taken this long and there is much more to do for a full descheduling.”

Cat Packer, board director of policy for the Cannabis Regulators of Color Coalition (CRCC), said that Trump’s executive order does not go far enough.

“The American people overwhelmingly support legalization and an end to federal marijuana criminalization,” Packer said in a statement from CRCC. “Rescheduling marijuana continues federal criminalization, regardless of state law, and falls far short of the reforms our communities need and deserve.”

Adam Smith, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), said that while the organization “welcomes the President’s proposal to move cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III, neither the plant itself nor its naturally occurring component cannabinoids belong on the schedule at all.”

“We hope this move to Schedule III truly does open up medical research, that it inspires states to guarantee access to safe, regulated cannabinoids for patients who desperately need them, and that the regulated industry might finally be treated more fairly under the federal tax code,” Smith wrote in a statement from MPP. “But a move to Schedule III does nothing to end hundreds of thousands of possession arrests each year, nor does it do anything to fix the untenable, ongoing disconnect between federal prohibition and the regulated state markets under which more than half of American adults live.”

Brian Vicente, founding partner at the cannabis law firm Vicente LLP, says the benefits of rescheduling will likely drive further progress in cannabis policy reform.

“This historic change 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,” Vicente wrote in a statement. “Cannabis businesses will be free to use newfound revenue to promote both their businesses and cannabis reform efforts nationally.”

Cannabis Industry Reacts to Rescheduling Order

Representatives of the cannabis industry, including licensed operators and ancillary companies that serve them, were also quick to note the significance of the president’s executive order. Curaleaf founder and CEO Boris Jordan characterized the reclassification of cannabis as “a landmark moment for our industry and the country.”

“President Trump’s action is the most impactful move taken around the cannabis plant since its prohibition 55 years ago,” Jordan said in a statement. “We applaud the Trump Administration for boldly acknowledging what science, patients, and the industry have known for years: Cannabis has real medical value and never belonged in Schedule I in the first place.”

Sasha Nutgent, vice president of cannabis retail at New York’s Housing Works Cannabis Co., said that Trump’s move will benefit small businesses in the regulated cannabis industry.

“As it stands today with the current classification, retailers are not incentivized to operate legally. Reclassification would change that for thousands of businesses, especially those owned by folks from communities most impacted by the war on drugs,” Nutgent wrote in a statement to IgniteIt.

Gibran Washington, CEO of multistate operator Ethos, said that reclassifying cannabis rewrites the government’s stance on the therapeutic value of the plant.

“Rescheduling cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III is a long-overdue acknowledgment of what patients, providers, and responsible operators have known for years: this plant has real therapeutic value, and the current federal posture has been holding progress back,” Washington tells IgniteIt. “Rescheduling won’t fix every challenge in front of us, but it finally moves us in the right direction, opening clearer pathways for research, easing unnecessary barriers for patients, and creating a more functional regulatory environment for operators who are doing this the right way.”

Gennaro Luce, founder and CEO at tech company EM2P2, believes that Trump’s rescheduling executive order “is an important and overdue shift for patient-centric healthcare, but the move to Schedule III alone isn’t enough to make medical cannabis more accessible or affordable.”

“Schedule III puts cannabis in the same drug class as certain types of Tylenol, but what does that mean for patients?” Luce writes in a statement. “We hope it means more will be able to access their medicine through insurance plans and traditional doctors.”

Anthony Coniglio, CEO of NewLake Capital, a publicly traded real estate investment trust, notes that cannabis operators will no longer be subject to IRS regulations that deny them most standard business deductions available in other industries.

“This represents a historic and long-overdue alignment of federal policy with scientific evidence, medical practice and the regulatory reality already functioning across most U.S. states. Now, follow-through is critical,” Coniglio tells IgniteIt. “We urge the DOJ and DEA to move swiftly to issue the Final Rule and complete the rescheduling process. Doing so would finally remove the punitive burden of Section 280E, allowing compliant, state-licensed operators to reinvest in growth, innovation and workforce development across the nearly half-million Americans employed in this industry.”