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President Donald Trump on Monday reiterated that he is weighing whether to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug, a statement that mirrors similar comments he made earlier this year and during his 2024 presidential campaign.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, the president said he was considering an executive order to reclassify marijuana as a Schedule III drug.
“We are considering that. A lot of people want to see it, the reclassification, because it leads to tremendous amounts of research that can’t be done unless you reclassify,” Trump said on Monday.
“So we are looking at that very strongly,” he continued.
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A White House official said on Friday that “no final decisions have been made on the rescheduling of marijuana.”
Marijuana’s current listing as a Schedule I substance puts it in the same category as heroin, ecstasy and peyote, implying it has a high potential for abuse and no currently accepted medical use. Schedule III drugs include Tylenol mixed with codeine, ketamine and testosterone.
The potential move to remove marijuana from the list of Schedule I controlled substances and make it a Schedule III drug would make it significantly easier to buy and sell cannabis and make the cannabis industry more profitable.
Rescheduling is different from descheduling marijuana, as federal penalties for marijuana use and possession would remain. However, reclassification would loosen barriers to research and would be a boost for the multi-billion dollar cannabis industry.
The move could reshape the industry by potentially lowering taxes and making it easier to secure funding.
Earlier reports that Trump may ease federal restrictions on the psychoactive drug boosted stocks of cannabis companies.
Trump supported rescheduling the drug during the presidential campaign. He also said in August that he was weighing whether to reclassify.
But Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who supports reclassification, accused Trump of attempting to “gaslight” Americans into “believing he just made pot legal” by making a move to reschedule the substance.
“Trump will try to gaslight everyone into believing he just made pot legal. Wrong. He has not decriminalized cannabis or expunged the records of black and Latino Americans stuck in prison for minor drug offenses. This is just an attempt to boost his pathetic approval ratings,” Wyden said on X.
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The Biden administration had begun pursuing the reclassification of marijuana but did not enact the change before the former president left office.
There have also been several bills introduced in Congress by Democrats and Republicans over the years to either lower the classification of marijuana to a Schedule III drug or remove it from the list of controlled substances altogether. Federal lawmakers have also sought to decriminalize the plant.
But these measures have not been signed into law.
More than 40 states have legalized medical marijuana, while 24 states and Washington, D.C., have also legalized recreational marijuana.
Reuters contributed to this report.
