President Donald Trump has directed federal officials to move quickly on marijuana rescheduling, and cannabis industry observers believe it is increasingly likely that he will soon sign an executive order directing federal agencies to complete the process. Multiple reports indicate the directive could also contain additional components touching on cannabis business banking access and Medicare coverage for CBD.
The exact details of the executive order aren’t clear, but White House sources seem to be coalescing around the idea that it will be signed on Thursday and will instruct the Justice Department to proceed with plans to move marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).
A source familiar with fluid discussions around the administrative action told Marijuana Moment that Trump may couple the presidential directive with clemency for some people who have been convicted over federal marijuana offenses. Neither that plan, nor the reported details about cannabis banking or CBD and health care, have yet been confirmed.
According to NBC News, the potentially imminent executive order may contain an explicit push from the president urging Congress to pass a bipartisan bill titled the Secure and Fair Enforcement Regulation (SAFER) Banking Act, which would prevent federal regulators from penalizing financial institutions simply for working with state-licensed marijuana businesses.
The lack of banking access for the cannabis industry was also raised in a Senate subcommittee hearing on Tuesday.
The effort to rescheduling marijuana recently survived another legal challenge. Last week, a federal appeals court rejected a request from marijuana opponents to temporarily block the administration from moving forward with broader rescheduling while their lawsuits are considered.
The ruling doesn’t guarantee marijuana will ultimately move from the stringent Schedule I to the more lenient Schedule III, but it keeps the process alive. The Trump administration has already placed FDA-approved marijuana products and qualifying state-licensed medical marijuana products into Schedule III, which is reserved for drugs that have some medical uses. A separate DEA process is considering the broader removal of marijuana from Schedule I.
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