{"id":3913,"date":"2025-12-18T22:33:23","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T22:33:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jubaglobal.com\/?p=3913"},"modified":"2025-12-18T22:33:24","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T22:33:24","slug":"common-sense-compassion-trump-signs-executive-order-for-medical-cannabis-while-rejecting-full-legalization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/directtopic.com\/jubaglobal.com\/common-sense-compassion-trump-signs-executive-order-for-medical-cannabis-while-rejecting-full-legalization\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cCommon Sense” Compassion: Trump Signs Executive Order for Medical Cannabis While Rejecting Full Legalization"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n


WASHINGTON \u2014 In a landmark shift for federal drug policy, President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday directing the Department of Justice to expedite the reclassification of marijuana, a move aimed at dismantling barriers to medical research while stopping short of nationwide legalization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


The order, signed during a ceremony in the Oval Office on December 18, 2025, instructs Attorney General Pam Bondi to accelerate the administrative process required to move cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). If finalized, the move would recognize marijuana\u2019s “legitimate medical uses” at the federal level for the first time in over 50 years, placing it in a regulatory category alongside drugs like ketamine and anabolic steroids, rather than heroin and LSD.
“I\u2019m pleased to announce that I will be signing an Executive Order to reschedule marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule III controlled substance,” President Trump told reporters, flanked by medical experts and administration officials. “This reclassification order will make it far easier to conduct marijuana-related medical research, allowing us to study benefits, potential dangers, and future treatments. It\u2019s going to have a tremendously positive impact.”
However, the President was careful to temper expectations regarding recreational use, a politically sensitive topic that remains divisive among his base. “This is not the legalization of marijuana in any way, shape, or form,” Trump emphasized, noting that the order “in no way sanctions its use as a recreational drug.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n


A Shift in Federal Policy
The executive order represents the culmination of a regulatory review process that began under the previous administration but had stalled in the complex machinery of federal rulemaking. By signing the order, President Trump has effectively put the full weight of the White House behind the immediate completion of the rescheduling process.
The directive commands the Justice Department and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to cut through bureaucratic red tape. “We have people begging for me to do this. People that are in great pain,” Trump said, describing the decision as a matter of “common sense” and compassion for patients, particularly those suffering from chronic pain, PTSD, and seizure disorders.
Under the current Schedule I classification, marijuana is defined as having “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.” This designation has long created a paradox where 38 states have legalized medical cannabis, and 24 have approved recreational use, yet the federal government officially regards the plant as being as dangerous as heroin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Moving cannabis to Schedule III would acknowledge its medical utility and a lower potential for abuse relative to Schedule I or II drugs. While this does not decriminalize possession under federal law, it fundamentally alters how the substance is regulated, studied, and taxed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Unlocking Research and CBD Access
One of the most significant components of Thursday’s executive order is its focus on scientific research. For decades, scientists have complained that Schedule I restrictions made it nearly impossible to conduct rigorous clinical trials on cannabis products. Researchers often faced years of delays to obtain federal approval and were frequently limited to studying low-quality, government-grown cannabis that did not reflect the products actually being used by consumers.
“This reclassification order will make it far easier to conduct marijuana-related medical research,” Trump stated. The order specifically directs HHS to develop “research methods and models utilizing real-world evidence” to study the long-term health effects of medical marijuana, with a special focus on at-risk populations like adolescents.
In a surprise addition, the order also paves the way for a Medicare pilot program. The President announced that the program would explore reimbursing Medicare patients for certain non-intoxicating CBD products if recommended by a doctor. Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), stood by the President during the signing, signaling the administration’s intent to integrate hemp-derived wellness products into standard healthcare frameworks for older adults.
Economic Implications: The End of 280E?
While the President focused on medical benefits, the cannabis industry reacted with enthusiasm to the financial implications of the order. Cannabis stocks rallied on Thursday afternoon as investors digested the news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


The primary driver of this optimism is the potential elimination of Tax Code Section 280E. Currently, because marijuana is a Schedule I substance, cannabis businesses are prohibited from deducting standard business expenses\u2014such as rent, payroll, and marketing\u2014from their federal taxes. This has resulted in effective tax rates as high as 70% for many state-legal operators.
Moving marijuana to Schedule III would render Section 280E inapplicable to cannabis businesses, potentially saving the industry hundreds of millions of dollars annually and allowing companies to reinvest in growth and safety compliance.
“This is the lifeline the industry has been waiting for,” said Sarah Galiardi, a senior analyst at Cannabis Market Watch. “While it doesn’t solve the banking issue entirely or allow for interstate commerce, the tax relief alone is enough to save thousands of small businesses that were on the brink of collapse.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n


The Distinction: Rescheduling vs. Legalization
Legal experts and advocates were quick to parse the specific language of the President’s order to manage public expectations. Rescheduling is distinct from “descheduling”\u2014the complete removal of cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act, which would be akin to how alcohol and tobacco are treated.
Because marijuana will remain on the CSA as a Schedule III drug, federal criminal penalties for unsanctioned trafficking and possession remain on the books. The move does not automatically expunge past records for marijuana convictions, nor does it force states that still prohibit cannabis to change their laws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


“It is a step forward, but an incremental one,” said Paul Armentano, Deputy Director of NORML, a prominent advocacy group. “The Administration\u2019s order validates the experiences of tens of millions of Americans\u2026 but rescheduling fails to harmonize federal marijuana policy with the cannabis laws of most states.”
NORML and other civil rights groups have long argued that only full descheduling can resolve the conflict between state and federal laws and address the social justice issues arising from the War on Drugs. They expressed concern that a Schedule III designation could create a “pharmaceuticalization” of cannabis, potentially favoring large pharmaceutical companies over the existing state-level dispensaries, though administration officials downplayed these fears on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Political Strategy
The timing of the executive order, coming late in the year, suggests a strategic calculation by the Trump White House. By championing medical freedom and deregulation\u2014tenets popular with libertarians and independents\u2014while strictly drawing the line against “recreational” culture to appease social conservatives, the President attempts to thread a difficult political needle.
The move effectively co-opts an issue that Democrats had campaigned on but failed to finalize before leaving office. By claiming credit for the “expedited” completion of the process, Trump positions himself as a pragmatic reformer who delivers results where others stalled.
“President Trump is doing what the previous administration promised but couldn’t deliver,” said a senior White House official who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity. “He is cutting the red tape to help sick Americans, plain and simple.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n


What Happens Next?
Despite the “expedite” order, the process is not instantaneous. The Attorney General must now oversee the final rulemaking procedures, which typically involve a review by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and an administrative law hearing. However, with the President’s explicit public directive, agencies are expected to move with unusual speed.
For now, the landscape of American drug policy has shifted. The federal government, after decades of resistance, has officially signaled that the era of treating marijuana as a substance with “no medical value” is coming to an end.
“The facts compel the federal government to recognize that marijuana can be legitimate in terms of medical applications when carefully administered,” Trump concluded. “It\u2019s time to let the doctors and the scientists do their work.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2014 In a landmark shift for federal drug policy, President Donald Trump signed an…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1199,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[643,1,784,806,782],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-more-articles","category-news","category-northamerica","category-united-states","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/directtopic.com\/jubaglobal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/directtopic.com\/jubaglobal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/directtopic.com\/jubaglobal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/directtopic.com\/jubaglobal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1199"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/directtopic.com\/jubaglobal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3913"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/directtopic.com\/jubaglobal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3913\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3915,"href":"https:\/\/directtopic.com\/jubaglobal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3913\/revisions\/3915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/directtopic.com\/jubaglobal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/directtopic.com\/jubaglobal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/directtopic.com\/jubaglobal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}