Donald Trump is reportedly considering easing federal restrictions on marijuana as early as Monday, and cannabis industry insiders hope he’s not just blowing smoke.
The federal government currently classifies pot as a Schedule I drug, which means it’s considered highly addictive and has no FDA-approved medical use.
If the rumblings near the White House are true, Trump could issue an executive order that changes the wacky weed’s classification to Schedule III, a distinction given to drugs like steroids that can be accessed with a prescription.
It’s been a long time coming for the bud biz, according to Jason DeLand, co-founder and chair of Dosist, a California-based cannabis wellness brand.
“Look, this is overdue,” DeLand told HuffPost.“Schedule I is supposed to be for substances with high abuse potential and no accepted medical use. Cannabis never fit cleanly in that box, and the medical evidence base — especially around chronic pain as a potential non-opioid tool — has only grown.”
DeLand stressed that Schedule III “is not federal legalization,” but an important step toward that possibility. “But it’s the biggest near-term lever Washington can pull to strengthen the regulated market and accelerate serious research.”
Sasha Nutgent of the New York-based Housing Works Cannabis Co. told HuffPost her business would immediately “feel the effect financially and operationally” if marijuana is rescheduled.
Reclassification would reduce the burden that dispensaries face under 280E, a federal tax provision that forbids businesses selling substances from Schedule I or II of the Controlled Substances Act from deducting ordinary business expenses.
“This would improve access to banking and signal overdue federal acknowledgement that cannabis does not belong in the most restrictive drug category,” she said, adding that it would make it easier for her business to invest in “employees, compliance and community impact.”
Brianne Dezzutti of the Connecticut-based Higher Collective dispensary chain says the most immediate effect rescheduling would have on her business is psychological.
“Reclassification alone doesn’t change the day-to-day reality for state-legal operators. We wouldn’t suddenly see interstate commerce, normalized banking, or federal legalization,” she said. “What it would do is signal a shift in tone, which could unlock modest improvements in investor confidence and long-term planning.”
“Reclassification alone doesn’t change the day-to-day reality for state-legal operators. … What it would do is signal a shift in tone.”
– Brianne Dezzutti, Higher Collective dispensary chain
Meanwhile, Tiffany Rogers of Starship Enterprises, which runs dispensaries in Georgia and Tennessee — two states where marijuana is still largely criminalized — said the schedule change could make for a stringent bureaucracy around bud.
“If cannabis is classified as Schedule III, smoke shops still cannot sell it,” she told HuffPost by email. “Schedule III drugs are federally controlled prescription drugs.”
“To my understanding, that means cannabis would only be produced by DEA-registered manufacturers, distributed through DEA-approved supply chains, and sold by licensed pharmacies with a doctor’s prescription.”
“There would be no over-the-counter sales. No consumer retail. No ‘wellness’ use. Cannabis would not be something people choose for themselves, but something prescribed for treatment.”
Another concern: Trump’s supposed interest in rescheduling cannabis comes right when lawmakers at both the federal and state levels are trying to outlaw certain synthetic cannabinoid products derived from hemp.
James Stephens, CEO of the Sinful brand of edibles, called the disconnect “regulatory schizophrenia” and predicts it will make things “catastrophically worse.”
“Trump’s administration talks about Schedule III for cannabis while others push Schedule I for hemp delta-9 ― the same molecule, different regulatory universes,” he said. “This isn’t policy coherence, it’s turf war bureaucracy that will crush small operators caught in the middle.”
“We’ll have federally recognized ‘cannabis’ at dispensaries while the chemically identical compound in gas stations gets criminalized,” he said.
And while many in the industry want rescheduling to come, there are those who predict unintended consequences from it, such as Joe Gerrity of New Orleans-based Crescent Canna, who operates in a state where weed is partially decriminalized.
He worries that a Schedule III listing would allow the pharmaceutical industry to gain the “authority to distribute these products while shutting the door on tens of thousands of small businesses that can’t meet the same burdensome criteria of a massive manufacturer of pharmaceuticals.”