An executive order signed last week by President Donald Trump urged federal agencies to reschedule marijuana to improve patient access and expand medical research. The order stated that 30,000 doctors already prescribe medical marijuana to more than 6 million patients, including veterans. (Erin Hooley, Chicago Tribune/TNS)
WASHINGTON — Veterans groups, cannabis business owners and other stakeholders praised President Donald Trump’s highly publicized executive order to expedite the reclassification of marijuana as helping to shift public views of cannabis — from a stigmatized drug to an accepted medical product for treating chronic pain and other conditions experienced by millions of Americans, including veterans.
Trump’s executive order, signed on Dec. 18, instructs U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to speed up the process to make marijuana a Schedule III drug, a legal classification that permits medical uses and research applications.
The president’s directive stated that 30,000 doctors already prescribe “medical marijuana” to more than 6 million patients, including veterans.
The order is significant to the budding cannabis industry for supporting more marijuana research, strengthening product standards and helping end negative stereotypes of consumers, including veterans, said Paul Yau, co-founder and chief executive officer of The Travel Agency, which operates cannabis businesses in New York City.
Forty states have their own regulated medical marijuana programs. An estimated 1 in 10 veterans use cannabis, including to treat chronic pain and post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
“Many veterans have long used cannabis to manage pain, sleep disruption, PTSD and other service-connected symptoms,” said Yau, whose company markets to veterans, stocks veteran-owned brands and has partnered with a veteran with a service-connected disability to operate a dispensary.
Veterans of Foreign Wars lauded Trump’s executive order for endorsing research that could benefit veterans with service-connected injuries and illnesses that have resisted other treatments. “The decision acknowledges what veterans and their doctors have been saying for years: We need evidence-based options and the freedom to study them,” said Carol Whitmore, VFW national commander.
Twenty percent of veterans experiencing chronic pain reported using fewer opioids as a result of their medical marijuana use, according to the executive order.
Titled “Increasing Medical Marijuana and Cannabidiol Research,” the president’s directive does not federally legalize the drug but tells the leaders of key federal agencies to ease research barriers and support doctors who prescribe marijuana.
“It is the policy of my administration to increase medical marijuana and CBD research to better inform patients and doctors,” according to the executive order.
The order urges the Justice Department to expedite the completion of the rule-making process to remove marijuana as a Class I narcotic under the Controlled Substances Act, a category that includes heroin and LSD.
Marijuana, as a proposed Class III drug, would be in the same category as Tylenol with codeine. Category III drugs have accepted medical uses and a moderate to low risk of addiction.
“The American Legion has long advocated for this change,” said Dan K. Wiley, the organization’s national commander. “Cannabis being classified Schedule I blocks large-scale, randomized clinical trials examining cannabis’ impact on PTSD, TBI (traumatic brain injury), sleep disruption, anxiety, depression, and chronic pain — conditions strongly associated with veteran suicide.”
But Republican lawmakers were far from unified in backing Trump’s order. Prior to the signing, some House Republicans argued against the change.
Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, and Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., led two dozen GOP lawmakers who sent a letter to Trump arguing to keep the Schedule I designation.
The lawmakers said marijuana is a “harmful drug that is worsening our nation’s addiction crisis.”
Congress also voted last month to federally ban most ingestible hemp products by November 2026. The federal ban was included in the fiscal 2026 Agriculture appropriations bill.
Trump’s executive order, by contrast, instructs federal agencies — including the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the National Institutes of Health — to undertake studies to improve access to commercial hemp products. The retail hemp industry is valued at $30 billion.
Trump’s order also faulted existing federal law for causing confusion and uncertainty. “The current legal landscape leaves American patients and doctors without adequate guidance or product safeguards for CBD,” the executive order said.
