With the federal designation for marijuana about to change, we asked you to send us your burning questions about the marijuana reclassification — here are the answers.
President Trump signed an executive order last week directing the Department of Justice to downgrade marijuana from a Schedule I substance to a Schedule III substance. Although it’s still not legal, this order puts marijuana in the same category as substances like ketamine, anabolic steroids, testosterone medications and Tylenol with codeine.
Can the president unilaterally do this?
Technically, Trump’s executive order doesn’t automatically reschedule marijuana. Instead, it tells the Department of Justice to hurry along its process to move cannabis from being classified as a Schedule I substance to Schedule III.
But does the president have the power to make that order? Yes.
“Lord knows President Trump has been pushing the bounds of executive action and powers, and often does get his way,” said Brian Vicente, a Denver attorney who specializes in legal issues around cannabis and psychedelics. “It will happen via the executive function by bypassing Congress, and we think it's legally defensible.”
Vicente said next steps will likely include a public comment period before the DOJ makes the official change.
Rescheduling marijuana didn’t start with President Trump; it’s been in the works since 2022 under the Biden administration..
Will this reclassification allow open banking for cannabis businesses, including the ability to accept credit cards as with any retailer?
The short answer is no, this decision won’t suddenly make all banking institutions accept cannabis companies as customers. But Vicente says it may make them more comfortable with the idea.
“The federal government has put out memos in the past saying banks can bank cannabis,” he said. “But a lot of banks have been hesitant to do so because of not only the federal legality and the Controlled Substances Act, but also the Schedule I status. So I think this is momentum towards more banks making this risk calculus themselves and saying, ‘Oh, Schedule III is better than Schedule I.’”
According to some cannabis business owners in Colorado, banking has already been somewhat integrated into the industry.
“We are not a hundred percent cash businesses anymore,” explained Colleen Scanlon, who is a co-owner of the Happy Camper Cannabis Company. “You can put your money in credit unions and things like that, so you're able to bank your money.”
A bigger change for cannabis companies in Colorado could be the way they do their taxes.
“These businesses could not take tax deductions that ordinary businesses do,” Vicente said. “Now that cannabis has moved to Schedule III, the IRS will allow them to make ordinary business deductions, like for marketing and payroll, which is really going to have a dramatic effect.”
That means companies will have more revenue to invest back into their business and workforce, according to Vicente.
As a medical marijuana card holder, how will it change how I shop? How will it be different in Colorado?
The shopping experience won’t change immediately, for medical or recreational users. But it might in the future.
“The government has stated that if you're following state laws, whether those are medical marijuana or adult use, they're not really interested in prosecuting you,” said Vicente.
However, this does introduce the potential for cannabis prescriptions at some future point, if companies pursue that route.
“Schedule III drugs are much easier to study via federal clinical trials than Schedule I drugs,” said Vicente. “Typically those processes take several years to work through the FDA, and we could see botanical cannabis medicine sold at Walgreens, but I think we're years out from that.”
Will I be able to take my medical marijuana with me when I travel? Will we be able to export to other states? What could be the economic impact of that?
No, marijuana is still an illegal substance in the federal government’s eyes so flying with it, or crossing state lines with it, remains illegal.
What does this mean for employment -- will private companies and public employers still be allowed to fire employees if they test positive for marijuana?
There won’t be any immediate changes to employers’ drug policies, private or public. They are still allowed to test workers for THC, and sanction or fire them if they test positive.
However, Vicente believes that rescheduling could shift employers toward taking a more relaxed approach to their employees consuming marijuana.
“This is showing a change in enforcement and sort of a more progressive view by the federal government,” said Vicente. “I think employers will say, ‘Listen, this is being recognized by the federal government as being medical. Maybe we shouldn't block people from working here because they have a hot urinalysis test for THC.’”
What will the impact be to states such as Texas, which don’t already have recreational cannabis?
There’s no immediate impact on states that haven’t legalized recreational or medicinal marijuana usage — if it’s illegal there now, it will stay illegal, unless lawmakers decide to act.
Will that help eliminate roadblocks to research for cannabis for epilepsy?
Experts say rescheduling will make research easier for many potential medical uses of marijuana.
The order specifically announces an intention to improve access to cannabidiol, or CBD, products, which are being looked into as an effective treatment for epilepsy.
“This pilot program would represent a major policy development with immediate, positive implications,” Vicente said.
If I was arrested years ago for a cannabis related offense, can I expect it to be expunged from my record automatically?
The short answer is no. Not automatically, at least. Even in Colorado, that didn’t happen automatically with legalization. It’s taken action by the governor and lawmakers to wipe state convictions for marijuana off people’s records.
According to Vicente, it remains to be seen how this decision will affect how individual states treat marijuana in their own laws.
“Typically, states have their own scheduling system around drugs, which often mimics the federal government's scheduling system,” he said. “So certain states will automatically trigger, and cannabis will be Schedule III in that state, which could certainly have a positive impact in moving forward with cannabis reforms in those states, but could have some impact on individuals with criminal records as well.”
CPR’s Anthony Cotton and Mateo Schimpf contributed to this reporting.
