Donald Trump promised he would be different from every other politician in Washington.
He said he would keep his word to the American people no matter what.
And Trump just delivered on one of his biggest promises to millions of Americans.
President Trump shook up Washington, D.C. once again by signing a historic executive order that ends a 55-year failed policy.
With a stroke of his pen, Trump officially reclassified marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III under federal drug law.
The move doesn't legalize marijuana at the federal level, but it removes cannabis from the same category as heroin, LSD, and ecstasy.
Trump Overturns Decades of Failed Drug Policy
Standing in the Oval Office surrounded by medical professionals, Trump made his announcement crystal clear.
"Today I'm pleased to announce that I will be signing an executive order to reschedule marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule III controlled substance, with legitimate medical uses," Trump declared.¹
"We have people begging for me to do this. People who are in great pain."¹
The President said he received more phone calls about this issue than almost any other topic during his campaign and presidency.
Trump explained his reasoning with characteristic directness: "Because 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."²
The executive order moves marijuana into the same classification as Tylenol with codeine, testosterone, anabolic steroids, and ketamine.
Under Schedule III, substances are defined as having "moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence" instead of being banned outright.²
Marijuana has been classified as Schedule I since the Controlled Substances Act was created in 1970, meaning the federal government claimed it had "no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse."²
Cannabis Businesses Get Major Tax Relief
The biggest immediate impact comes from tax relief for state-licensed marijuana businesses.
Under the current Schedule I classification, cannabis companies cannot deduct normal business expenses from their federal taxes because of Internal Revenue Code Section 280E.
This punitive tax provision has crushed marijuana businesses with effective tax rates as high as 70% in some cases.
Moving to Schedule III eliminates these restrictions, allowing cannabis companies to take normal business deductions like any other industry.
The change could save marijuana businesses billions in federal taxes annually and make the industry far more profitable.
Cannabis stocks surged over 50% in some cases when news of Trump's decision broke, with investors betting on a boom for the industry.
Banking access should also improve, though full banking reform would still require Congressional action through legislation like the SAFER Banking Act.
Opposition Couldn't Stop Trump
Trump moved forward despite fierce opposition from members of his own party.
A group of 22 Republican senators wrote Trump an open letter Wednesday urging him to keep marijuana in Schedule I.³
"We cannot reindustrialize America if we encourage marijuana use," the group argued.³
They claimed marijuana has "no medical value" and warned about workplace safety and driving concerns.³
Nine House GOP members also sent a letter opposing the move, stating "there is no adequate science or data" to support rescheduling.³
But Trump brushed aside the critics and followed through on his campaign promise.
Trump didn't just talk about this on the campaign trail – he put his money where his mouth was by backing Florida's recreational marijuana ballot measure even when it cost him politically.
Scientists Can Finally Do Their Jobs
For decades, researchers have been handcuffed by Schedule I restrictions that made studying marijuana nearly impossible.
Want to research cannabis? Good luck navigating the DEA's bureaucratic maze that treats scientists like potential drug dealers.
Trump just tore down those barriers.
Moving to Schedule III reduces these barriers and should accelerate research into marijuana's potential medical benefits.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has long advocated for expanded medical research into cannabis treatments.
Now scientists can actually study whether marijuana helps people instead of being blocked by federal red tape.
We're talking about millions of Americans dealing with chronic pain, kids having seizures, cancer patients who can't keep food down. Veterans coming home broken from wars and told their pain isn't real.
These aren't statistics – they're your neighbors, your family members, people who've been suffering while bureaucrats played politics with their medicine.
Trump's executive order completes a process that began under the Biden administration but had stalled in regulatory limbo for over a year.
The Drug Enforcement Administration now has clear direction to finalize the rescheduling through its formal rulemaking process.
This is the biggest shift in drug policy since Nixon launched the War on Drugs.
For 55 years, the federal government insisted marijuana was as dangerous as heroin. Anyone with half a brain knew that was garbage, but Washington kept the lie going anyway.
Trump just called time on that charade. He delivered exactly what he promised, despite his own party fighting him every step of the way.
¹ CBS News, "Trump signs executive order reclassifying marijuana as a Schedule III drug," December 18, 2025.
² Ibid.
³ Ibid.
