WASHINGTON \u2014 President Trump on Thursday delivered the biggest federal policy win yet for marijuana reform advocates by signing an executive order to relax federal restrictions on the drug while touting its medicinal qualities.<\/p>\n
The landmark order instructs the Justice Department to quickly move pot from \u201cSchedule I,\u201d the most restrictive Controlled Substance Act designation that\u00a0includes heroin, to Schedule III alongside ketamine \u2014 but the change stops short of full legalization.<\/p>\n
\u201cI promised to be the president of common sense. That is exactly what we\u2019re doing. This is really something having to do with common sense,\u201d Trump said in the Oval Office.<\/p>\n
The action entitles state-legal pot companies to federal tax deductions for business expenses for the first time while expanding research opportunities.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe facts compel the federal government to recognize that marijuana can be legitimate in terms of medical applications when carefully administered,\u2019 the president said.<\/p>\n
President Trump is expected to order the federal rescheduling of marijuana on Thursday. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cThis may include [marijuana\u2019s] use as a substitute for addictive and potentially lethal opioid painkillers, and they cause tremendous problems. This can do it in a much lesser way and can make people feel much better that are living through tremendous pain.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump said his friends have described using cannabis during cancer treatments, which can alleviate anxiety, nausea and pain, and emphasized that he was not encouraging recreational use of the drug, which he said can \u201cwreck lives\u201d if abused.<\/p>\n
The president additionally announced that senior citizens on Medicare will be eligible for a new $500 annual benefit to buy non-intoxicating CBD (cannabidiol), a cannabis-derived compound.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m far younger than 65 so this does not pertain to me,\u201d Trump, 79, joked. \u201cI don\u2019t want it. I\u2019m not going to be taking it, but a lot of people do want it. A lot of people need it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marijuana technically will remain illegal to use under federal law, but nearly all prosecutions of small-scale possession are under local law, and 24 states, three territories and Washington, DC, allow recreational use, in addition to 16 other states that allow medical justifications.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Trump has tolerated state-legal marijuana sales throughout his two terms of office, despite federal prohibition, allowing a multibillion-dollar industry to flourish in the aftermath of Colorado and Washington state\u2019s pioneering recreational legalization ballot measures in 2012 during the Obama administration.<\/p>\n
The president voted last year for a failed initiative to legalize pot under state law in Florida \u2014 meaning he is the first sitting president of the modern era to support recreational legalization, inspiring optimism among marijuana reformers that he will take further action.<\/p>\n
Tax breaks and more research<\/p>\n
There are a handful of practical effects of the rescheduling order, including allowing state-legal pot businesses to gain access to tax deductions and easing scientific research into the medicinal benefits of \u201ccannabinoid\u201d compounds.<\/p>\n
A section of federal tax law known as \u201c280E\u201d bars companies involved in \u201ctrafficking\u201d Schedule I or II substances from deducting business expenses.<\/p>\n
A Wall Street Journal\u00a0analysis<\/a>\u00a0found the change could save businesses billions of dollars, allowing them to lower prices for consumers or reinvest their profits.<\/p>\n Drugs listed as Schedule I are deemed to have a high potential for abuse and no accepted medical value, making them notoriously difficult to research, and Trump focused mostly on that impact of rescheduling, rather than the tax implications.<\/p>\n \u201cThis action has been requested by American patients suffering from extreme pain, incurable diseases, aggressive cancer, seizure disorders, neurological problems and more,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n Marijuana activists have for decades rallied to reschedule marijuana. ZUMAPRESS.com<\/p>\n He added that the reform could benefit \u201cveterans with service related injuries and older Americans who live with chronic medical problems that severely degrade their quality of life.\u201d<\/p>\n The president said marijuana also can allow people to \u201cdie with dignity\u201d with \u201ctheir senses about them, as opposed to painkillers.\u201d<\/p>\n The primarily high-inducing compound in marijuana, THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), is part of a broader bouquet of chemicals that have shown an array of uses.<\/p>\n CBD or cannabidiol is widely used to treat epilepsy. THCV or tetrahydrocannabivarin is reputed to assist weight loss and CBN or cannabinol is said to promote sleep.<\/p>\n The Schedule I designation has required researchers to gain a special license from the Drug Enforcement Administration, which required the weed to be locked away and sourced from a federally authorized farm.<\/p>\n Between 1968 and 2021, a single provider \u2014 the University of Mississippi \u2014 had a monopoly on growing marijuana for research, drawing scientist complaints about quality and delays in growing requested strains rich in certain compounds. There are now seven sources.<\/p>\n Activists held smoke-ins in front of the White House under Presidents Obama and Biden unsuccessfully calling for pot to be rescheduled. UPI<\/p>\n The rescheduling also opens the doors to doctors in the future prescribing marijuana \u2014 replacing a jerry-rigged system of physicians \u201crecommending\u201d it in states that allow medical use \u2014 though additional Food and Drug Administration action would be needed.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s order doesn\u2019t resolve many key issues, including industry requests for banking protections for state-legal recreational pot companies, which are frequently de-banked by risk-averse financial institutions fearful of regulators punishing alleged drug dealing.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is certainly the biggest move that we\u2019ve seen in terms of federal policy when it comes to cannabis since it was originally placed on Schedule I,\u201d said Morgan Fox, political director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).<\/p>\n \u201cBut in terms of making an impact on actual cannabis consumers and criminal justice, we clearly need to go a lot farther.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump keeps campaign pledge after Dems disappoint reformers<\/p>\n Trump, who doesn\u2019t drink alcohol and frequently discourages drug use, has for many years been open to marijuana reform \u2014 including expressing interest in then-Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner\u2019s bipartisan push to federalize pot policy during his first term.<\/p>\n Last September, Trump\u00a0endorsed recreational marijuana legalization<\/a>, saying in a statement: \u201cAs I have previously stated, I believe it is time to end needless arrests and incarcerations of adults for small amounts of marijuana for personal use. As a Floridian, I will be voting YES on Amendment 3 this November.\u201d<\/p>\n In that statement, Trump said, \u201cAs President, we will continue to focus on research to unlock the medical uses of marijuana to a Schedule 3 drug, and work with Congress to pass common sense laws, including safe banking for state authorized companies.\u201d<\/p>\n President Trump signed the executive order in the Oval Office that now reclassifies marijuana as a schedule III drug. Getty Images<\/p>\n Although Trump is the first sitting president to support marijuana legalization, cannabis reform has been a relatively low priority as he focused the first year of his second term on imposing tariffs, attempting to mediate foreign conflicts and ratifying promised tax cuts on tips, overtime and Social Security benefits.<\/p>\n And there is no evidence that Trump will heed activist calls for a complete \u201cdescheduling\u201d of marijuana to effectively legalize it nationally.<\/p>\n Fox of NORML said Trump should build on his Thursday order, and that he\u2019s hopeful the president\u2019s action will rally more Republicans to support reforms, particularly after Congress this year acted to restrict the use of industrial hemp-derived THC.<\/p>\n \u201cConservative policymakers are going to see that this is not just good policy, but good politics,\u201d Fox said \u2014 after 22 GOP senators signed a letter pleading with Trump not to reschedule,\u00a0citing the possibility of negative psychological effects on some users and\u00a0arguing<\/a>, \u201cWe cannot reindustrialize America if we encourage marijuana use.\u201d<\/p>\n The longtime cannabis reform organizer said Trump should instruct the Justice Department to issue new guidance protecting state-legal cultivation of marijuana \u2014 which occasionally ensnares home growers in federal prosecutions \u2014 and take executive-branch or legislative action to give banks more confidence in working with the regulated industry.<\/p>\n He urged Trump to also take steps to free marijuana inmates and expunge records. At the end of Trump\u2019s first term, he\u00a0released from prison seven people<\/a>\u00a0with life sentences for dealing marijuana, some of them locked up under three-strikes legislation authored by Joe Biden while he was a Delaware senator.<\/p>\n The drug was previously listed as a Schedule I drug. AP<\/p>\n Trump is following through on rescheduling after decades of dashed hopes for reformers.<\/p>\n Although President Bill Clinton admitted to smoking marijuana \u2014 but not inhaling \u2014 he kept intact the federal prohibition, as did President Barack Obama, despite being a self-identified member of a pot-smoking \u201cchoom gang\u201d in his youth.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tStart your day with all you need to know\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMorning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n President Biden took steps to reschedule marijuana, but didn\u2019t follow through before leaving office in January.<\/p>\n Biden mass-pardoned people convicted federally of simple possession, of whom none were behind bars<\/a>, shortly before the 2022 midterm elections but failed to fulfill his\u00a0campaign pledge to release \u201ceveryone\u201d in prison<\/a>\u00a0for pot, most of whom are there for dealing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON \u2014 President Trump on Thursday delivered the biggest federal policy win yet for marijuana reform advocates by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":75234,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[153,7317,6210,9,11,10,87,58],"class_list":{"0":"post-75233","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-donald-trump","9":"tag-drugs","10":"tag-marijuana","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-headlines","13":"tag-new-york-news","14":"tag-politics","15":"tag-us-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75233\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}