Trump again says he is weighing reclassification of marijuana as Schedule III drug

President Donald Trump reiterated Monday that he’s contemplating whether or not to reclassify marijuana as a much less harmful drug, a press release that echoes comparable feedback he made earlier this 12 months and through his 2024 presidential marketing campaign.

Talking to reporters within the Oval Workplace, the president stated he was contemplating an govt order to reclassify marijuana as a Schedule III drug.

“We’re taking that into consideration. Lots of people wish to see it, the reclassification, as a result of it results in monumental quantities of analysis that may’t be performed until you reclassify it,” Trump stated Monday.

“So we’re that very strongly,” he continued.

TRUMP CONSIDERS reclassifying marijuana as LESS DANGEROUS DRUG: REPORT

President Donald Trump stated he’s contemplating whether or not to reclassify marijuana as a much less harmful drug. (Getty Photographs / Getty Photographs)

A White Home official stated Friday that “no ultimate selections have been made on marijuana realignment.”

Marijuana’s present itemizing as a Schedule I substance locations it in the identical class as heroin, ecstasy and peyote, implying that it has a excessive potential for abuse and at present has no medical makes use of. Schedule III medication embody Tylenol blended with codeine, ketamine and testosterone.

The potential transfer to take away marijuana from the record of Schedule I managed substances and make it a Schedule III drug would make it considerably simpler to purchase and promote hashish and make the hashish trade extra worthwhile.

Rescheduling is totally different from eliminating marijuana, as federal penalties for marijuana use and possession would stay. Nonetheless, a reclassification would take away boundaries to analysis and increase the multi-billion greenback trade.

The transfer might reshape the trade by doubtlessly reducing taxes and making it simpler to safe financing.

The present itemizing of marijuana as a Schedule I substance locations it in the identical class as heroin, ecstasy and peyote. (Photograph by John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe by way of Getty Photographs/Getty Photographs)

Earlier experiences that Trump might ease federal restrictions on psychoactive drug-boosted hashish firm shares.

Trump supported rescheduling the drug throughout the presidential marketing campaign. He additionally stated in August that he was contemplating whether or not to reclassify.

However Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who helps the reclassification, accused Trump of making an attempt to make Individuals “consider he simply made pot authorized” by trying to reschedule the content material.

“Trump will attempt to make everybody consider he simply made pot authorized. Flawed. He has not decriminalized hashish or expunged the info of Black and Latino Individuals incarcerated for minor drug offenses. That is simply an try to spice up his pathetic approval rankings,” Wyden stated on X.

CANNABIS SHARES RISE ON TRUMP REPORT SEEKS TO EASE RESTRICTIONS

President Donald Trump stated he’s contemplating an govt order to reclassify marijuana as a Schedule III drug. (Reuters/Kent Nishimura / Reuters Pictures)

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The Biden administration had begun pursuing marijuana reclassification however didn’t implement the change earlier than the previous president left workplace.

There have additionally been a number of accounts launched in Congress by Democrats and Republicans through the years to downgrade marijuana to a Schedule III drug, or take away it from the record of managed substances altogether. Federal lawmakers have additionally tried to decriminalize the plant.

However these measures haven’t but been laid down in regulation.

Greater than 40 states have legalized medical marijuana, whereas 24 states and Washington DC have additionally legalized leisure marijuana.

Reuters contributed to this report.