Finally, something to talk about with your quiet cousin who’s always wearing a Phish shirt. President Trump confirmed in a press conference yesterday that his administration is looking into reclassifying marijuana from a Schedule 1 drug, a classification that includes substances like heroin, to a less dangerous category, like Schedule 3, which includes everything from hormones like testosterone to drugs like Tylenol with codeine.
The US marijuana industry welcomed the possibility. Despite seeing rapid growth from legalization around the country, it still faces huge tax and financial barriers:
- Under its current classification, dispensaries and other marijuana companies can’t deduct business expenses from federal income taxes.
- They’re also often shunned by traditional banks and credit card companies.
Playing politics: Last year, under the Biden administration, the DOJ said it would recommend reclassifying the drug, but nothing changed. In the past, Trump voiced his personal disinterest in weed, but donations from huge cannabis companies have reportedly been flooding his PAC. On Monday, he expressed ambivalence to reporters, saying of marijuana, “I’ve heard some pretty good things, but for other things, I’ve heard some pretty bad things.”
Zoom out: The nearly $80 billion industry could be supercharged by the change. Trump said he expects to decide on the issue in the next few weeks.—MM