The president of the United States, , announced this Thursday the signing of a decree that along with other drugs, such as heroin, MDMA or LSD, “dangerous” due to their “potential for abuse”, to reclassify it in another category, along with codeine, ketamine and certain steroids. In practice, the decision, which does not imply the legalization of the substance for recreational purposes, accelerates the process that will allow research into the medical uses of the plant, until now illegal at the federal level.
Trump made the announcement surrounded by patients, a uniformed retired military officer, doctors dressed in white coats, and entrepreneurs from the cannabis industry. The president said there are “many people” who were begging him to do it, “people who have been suffering great pain for decades.”
The measure, he promised, will benefit patients with “incurable ailments, aggressive cancers, seizures, neurological disorders and other types of diseases, as well as veterans with injuries related to their services to the country and elderly people who live with chronic medical problems that have seriously deteriorated their quality of life.”
Trump already flirted with the idea of reclassifying marijuana during his campaign. In August, he confirmed that he was seriously studying the change, and in September he published a video in which he suggested that public health insurance Medicare also cover CBD products (popular name for non-psychoactive derivatives of marijuana).
The head of Medicare, who is also responsible for the Medicaid program, television doctor Mehmet Oz, was present during the announcement in the Oval Office. Oz said that Trump asked him in early 2025 to prepare the way for the decision announced this Thursday and announced that the elderly will now have access to these cannabinoids, “because they are not addictive.”
Trump’s predecessor in office, the former Democratic president, already worked for the reclassification of marijuana, and also made progress from the point of view of decriminalizing the possession of the substance.
Polls suggest Americans favor change. According to the Gallup pollster, 68% supported the idea last year, a trend that has been increasing in recent decades (in 2005, it was only 35%). recreational.
The movement of cannabis to Schedule III of the Schedule—both names used for decades in the so-called “war on drugs,” initiated by Richard Nixon in the seventies, and which peaked during the presidencies of Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton—nor does it imply a total decriminalization of its use. Although it does open the door to a relaxation of the application of the law in States where it falls on consumers in a more severe way, such as Texas. The executive order also promises to ease the tax burden on companies in the sector, including federal banking restrictions.
This Thursday’s announcement opens a long process. According to , this could be completed by next summer.
More than 20 Republican senators, several of them strong Trump allies, signed a letter this year urging the president to keep marijuana classified as a Schedule I drug. Led by North Carolina Sen. Ted Budd, the group argued that it remains dangerous and that a change in its classification would “undermine his important efforts to Make America Great Again,” a reference to the famous slogan. Make America Great Again. They also argued that marijuana negatively affects the physical and mental health of users, as well as road and work safety.
