President Donald Trump could issue an executive order reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug.
And along with moving cannabis to Schedule 3, unlocking major tax breaks for plant-touching businesses, the president may also hand the CBD industry a significant gift: allowing Medicare insurance coverage for certain CBD treatments, sources said.
That timeline is consistent with reporting from CNBC, which said Friday the president "is expected" to order cannabis moved to Schedule 3 of the Controlled Substances Act at the beginning of next week.
The presidential executive order is not yet finalized, cautioned the sources, who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity. Thus, it's not clear exactly how long the Trump marijuana rescheduling process will take – or whether it will follow same two-year-long road of a Biden-era rescheduling directive.
It's also not clear what CBD treatments would be covered, or how, as current U.S. Food and Drug Administration rules do not recognize CBD as a safe treatment.
President Trump's marijuana rescheduling plans has internal opposition
The president's plans to fulfill a summertime promise faces significant opposition within the White House and cabinet-level agencies, among them the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration as well as highly placed health officials.
Already, prohibition-minded individuals have tried to scuttle marijuana rescheduling by leaking to the press details of a Wednesday meeting in which the president discussed his plans with top cabinet officials and high-level cannabis advocates, sources said.
It's understood that major anti-reform groups, like Smart Approaches to Marijuana, will challenge marijuana rescheduling through the courts.
DEA Administrator Terrance Cole is also said to be skeptical and may push for a lengthy review of health and science data.
But Trump, whose personal opposition to drugs is well known, is keen to reschedule cannabis in order to fulfill promises made to cannabis interests that have been currying favor with the White House.
He also wants to distracted from other complications like his ties to the deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and flagging support for his agenda ahead of next year's midterm elections.
Oval Office meeting concerning marijuana rescheduling
The Washington Post reported Trump met in the Oval Office with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services and cannabis industry represenatives.
Oz is said to strongly oppose moving cannabis to Schedule 3 and prefers it remain a Schedule 2 drug – a classification that would keep marijuana businesses subject to Internal Revenue Code Section 280E and forbid basic business deductions on federal tax returns.
The president informed Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson he intended to order government agencies to reclassify marijuana. When Johnson protested, Trump let the cannabis advocates rebut his arguments, the Post reported.
Marijuana advocates are influencing Donald Trump
According to multiple sources, the cannabis industry was represented in the Oval Office by Kim Rivers, the CEO of marijuana multistate operator Trulieve Cannabis Corp., and Howard Kessler, a financier and Mar-a-Lago Club member who is the founder of The Commonwealth Project, a pro-cannabis advocacy group.
Both are Florida residents who, along with other major cannabis companies, have worked hard over the past year to curry favor with the president. And both have been rewarded.
Last fall, Trump became the first major party presidential candidate to endorse adult-use marijuana legalization when he pledged to vote for Amendment 3, an adult-use marijuana legalization initiative in Florida bankrolled primarily by Tallahassee-headquartered Trulieve.
In September of this year, Trump reposted on social media a video extolling CBD's benefits for seniors, that was produced by Kessler's Commonwealth Project.
The Commonwealth Project was one of the organizations set to testify in favor of rescheduling at hearings scheduled before a DEA administrative law judge that were canceled on the eve of Trump's inauguration.
