Tim Barash, Chairman and CEO, Dutchie, and Co-chair, Coalition for Hashish Scheduling Reform
“Transferring hashish to Schedule III represents a basic shift in how the federal authorities and society at giant view the plant, remodeling the best way the hashish trade operates. This modification will empower the 425,000 individuals working within the US hashish trade and usher in new expertise, capital, and consciousness to an trade that has a constructive impression on tens of millions of individuals’s lives.
“At Dutchie, we’ve labored tirelessly alongside our prospects and companions towards this consequence for years, placing 1000’s of hours and tens of millions of {dollars} in the direction of hashish coverage reform as co-chairs of the Coalition for Hashish Scheduling Reform. One of the instant impacts of rescheduling is the top of the 280E tax penalty, eradicating a long-standing barrier to development. This modification can even usher in giant establishments and companies throughout the enterprise and banking world, permitting this main US trade to have the identical assist as the remainder of our financial system. When federal coverage catches as much as actuality, it modifications how customers, households, and sufferers take into consideration hashish. That issues simply as a lot because the enterprise impression.”
Brooks Jorgensen, President, Cover USA
“Immediately’s choice to reclassify hashish marks a major step ahead in modernising U.S. federal hashish coverage and advancing a regulated, accountable market. Rescheduling offers higher regulatory readability for operators and helps unlock a extra sustainable enterprise surroundings, supporting entry to analysis, bettering affected person care, and increasing protected, regulated choices for customers. It additionally represents significant progress towards aligning federal coverage with state-regulated markets which might be already serving tens of millions of People. Cover USA is effectively positioned for this subsequent section, with established operations and main manufacturers together with Jetty, Wana, and Acreage. We’ve constructed our platform with a concentrate on compliance and high quality, and we imagine continued coverage progress strengthens the muse for long-term worth creation throughout the U.S. hashish sector.”
Scott Davido, CEO, Ayr Wellness
“Ayr Wellness applauds the historic government order from President Trump to reclassify hashish from Schedule I to Schedule III. This marks a serious step in the direction of unlocking additional analysis into the medical efficacy of hashish and permitting truthful tax remedy for the hashish trade. Our trade is without doubt one of the fastest-growing sectors of the U.S. financial system, using greater than 400,000 People. Alongside our friends, we proceed to advocate for additional hashish reform federally and on the state degree, which we imagine will probably be spurred by as we speak’s historic choice.”
Raj Grover, Founder and CEO, Excessive Tide
“This Govt Order marks one of the vital consequential steps ahead in U.S. federal hashish reform in additional than 50 years. Whereas rescheduling isn’t full legalization, the President’s announcement concerning Medicare reimbursements for CBD merchandise represents a very essential growth, signaling rising bipartisan momentum towards extra commonsense hashish and CBD coverage.
“Excessive Tide has efficiently scaled a differentiated retail mannequin throughout a number of jurisdictions and stays effectively positioned for the alternatives forward, significantly within the hemp-derived CBD class. Our main U.S. CBD manufacturers, NuLeaf Naturals and FAB CBD, are growing Medicare-aligned product classes to assist potential inclusion inside Medicare Benefit supplemental advantages, constructing on our present CGMP-certified operations and huge direct-to-consumer buyer base. In parallel, we’re exploring potential constructions that will enable us to develop Canna Cabana into the U.S. via licensing, whereas sustaining compliance with our NASDAQ and TSXV listings. With roughly 4 million U.S. prospects already in our database, we see significant long-term potential throughout each federally compliant CBD wellness and controlled hashish markets.”
Boris Jordan, Founder, Chairman and CEO, Curaleaf
“Thanks, President Trump, for transferring ahead with rescheduling hashish to Schedule III. This motion is a landmark second for our trade and the nation. President Trump’s motion is probably the most impactful transfer taken across the hashish plant since its prohibition 55 years in the past. We applaud the Trump Administration for boldly acknowledging what science, sufferers, and the trade have recognized for years: Hashish has actual medical worth and by no means belonged in Schedule I within the first place.
“President Trump promised motion and he delivered. Rescheduling will develop analysis, guarantee broad medical entry, shield younger individuals and sufferers from the illicit market, drive funding, and handle outdated tax insurance policies that punish authorized operators. It’s a win for public well being, the financial system, and customary sense.”
Sam Brill, CEO and Director, Ascend Wellness Holdings
“The transfer to reschedule hashish from Schedule I to Schedule III marks a essential development for society, public security, and entry for sufferers throughout the USA. Recognising the medicinal advantages of hashish paves the best way for expanded analysis, knowledgeable policymaking, and extra constant entry to protected, regulated merchandise for many who want them most.
“We commend the Trump administration for taking this long-overdue, commonsense, and data-driven step ahead. We’re optimistic that continued progress will assist a clear and controlled framework that protects particular person liberties, enhances public well being, fosters a well-regulated market, and drives home employment and financial development.”
Wendy Bronfein, Co-Founder, Chief Model Officer and Director of Public Coverage, Curio
“After years of empty guarantees and political posturing round hashish reform, as we speak’s announcement from President Trump marks an actual turning level.
“This choice recognises what sufferers, veterans, seniors, and households throughout the nation already know: accountable hashish coverage will help cut back reliance on opioids, give individuals safer choices to handle ache, and enhance well being outcomes and high quality of life. It additionally ensures that authorized, regulated companies are handled pretty beneath federal legislation.
“What makes as we speak particularly significant is that it’s knowledgeable by years of rigorous work from main consultants in medication, pharmacology, and public well being—together with members of Curio’s Scientific Board, who’ve contributed trusted, evidence-based perception from each the U.S. and overseas. Their analysis and engagement helped guarantee policymakers have been outfitted with credible information, not ideology.
“We’re grateful to President Trump for following the info, placing customers first, and taking decisive motion to modernize hashish coverage in a approach that’s sensible, compassionate, and lengthy overdue.”
Cy Scott, Co-Founder and CEO, Headset
“Transferring hashish to Schedule III would have instant, real-world penalties for operators, significantly at a second when the trade is beneath historic monetary stress. Authorized hashish margins have been steadily compressed over the previous a number of years, leaving retailers with far much less room to soak up mounted prices and punitive taxation.
“In that surroundings, 280E just isn’t an summary coverage situation. It straight determines whether or not many in any other case wholesome, well-run companies can keep open. As a result of the tax successfully applies to gross revenue fairly than true working revenue, a major share of hashish retailers as we speak are working at or close to breakeven after federal taxes. Eradicating 280E would create an on the spot enchancment in money circulation, permitting operators to stabilize their companies fairly than merely survive quarter to quarter.
“From a knowledge perspective, this is the reason rescheduling issues now. The trade doesn’t want symbolism, it wants reduction that displays present market realities. Improved money circulation would translate into fewer retailer closures, extra constant staffing, higher pricing self-discipline, and a extra sustainable authorized market general.”
Andrew Berman, CEO, Arcana Collective
“As a collective of legacy breeders, we have now recognized from many years of expertise with the plant, not coverage memos, that hashish has actual well being advantages and by no means belonged as a Schedule I substance within the first place. Whereas federal legalization stays the long-term purpose, rescheduling represents a significant step ahead and has the potential to ease a number of the structural challenges which have held the trade again, together with reduction from 280E. It could additionally encourage higher entry to banking and invigorate renewed curiosity for funding throughout the sector.
“On the similar time, rescheduling nonetheless leaves essential questions unanswered. It may encourage bigger pharmaceutical or tobacco pursuits to enter the area, and it stays to be seen how that can impression legacy operators and the tradition that constructed this trade. Web/web, this isn’t the end line, however it’s actual progress. We’re inspired by the momentum and hope that this step helps transfer the trade towards a future that also makes room for the individuals who have all the time believed on this plant.”
Kyle Sherman, Founder and CEO, Flowhub
“Reclassifying hashish to Schedule III is a significant win within the battle to finish the failed Battle on Medicine. This can be a step in the proper course in the direction of full destigmatization of hashish and removes roadblocks for operators which have held the trade again from reaching its full potential.
“One of many greatest obstacles has been 280E, an outdated tax coverage that’s crushed plant-touching firms for years. Now, companies will lastly have the chance to develop into worthwhile and reinvest capital into hiring and development. With additional cash readily available, fewer companies will face insolvency. We’ll see a more healthy hashish financial system and a resurgence of funding within the area. Extra conventional monetary establishments will probably be prepared to work with the trade, and extra sufferers may have entry to hashish as medication.”
Marc Beginin, Founder and CEO, Prodigy Processing Options
“Rescheduling hashish to Schedule III is a long-overdue step towards aligning this trade with science, public demand, and customary sense. It removes obstacles which have slowed funding and innovation, opening the doorways to complete analysis into the plant’s therapeutic potential, extra equitable tax remedy for operators, and significant engagement from the pharmaceutical and life-sciences communities. Most significantly, customers stand to learn from safer, extra constant merchandise constructed on enforceable GMP requirements.
“At Prodigy, we’ve spent years engineering programs that meet FDA and EU GMP benchmarks so operators are ready not just for federal oversight, however for the worldwide pharmaceutical alternatives that can form the following decade of hashish.”
Alana Malone, Co-Founder and CEO, Inexperienced Dot Labs
“With President Trump’s choice to reschedule hashish to Schedule III, the plant’s established medical advantages and decrease danger profile at the moment are formally recognised, aligning federal legislation with scientific proof and the confirmed success of state markets that steadiness product security and client safety via accountable laws.
“For legacy manufacturers like Inexperienced Dot Labs, based in Colorado—one of many nation’s first authorized hashish markets—this shift represents essential progress after greater than a decade navigating an unsure federal panorama. It begins to handle long-standing obstacles comparable to restricted entry to banking and vital tax burdens, whereas opening the door to elevated funding in analysis, innovation, and product growth. We look ahead to a federal framework that helps entry to banking, sustainable trade development, and affected person and client entry—whereas constructing on the progress made on the state degree for the reason that early 2000s.”
Jonathan Miller, Basic Counsel, US Hemp Roundtable
“The U.S. hemp trade is deeply grateful to President Trump for issuing his robust pro-hemp Govt Order as we speak. Whereas the headlines of the announcement will concentrate on marijuana rescheduling—which is a constructive in itself, for any hashish reform advantages your entire plant—we’re particularly happy to see the provisions that direct the White Home employees and urge Congress to make sure entry to hemp-derived, full-spectrum CBD merchandise, a lifeblood of the trade. We’re additionally thrilled to see the event of a mannequin that might enable quite a lot of Medicare beneficiaries to obtain CBD beneath physician advice for gratis.
“We think about this Govt Order to be a direct rebuke to the hemp ban that was malignly hooked up to laws that reopened authorities. This additionally provides robust impetus to efforts to increase the ban’s moratorium a further 18 months to permit correct time for Congress and the Trump Administration to develop the regulatory framework that ensures the protected provision of hemp merchandise whereas cracking down on the dangerous actors peddling the unsafe merchandise that the Govt Order calls out.
“We look ahead to working with the President, his employees, HHS, and Congress within the coming months to make sure the bipartisan imaginative and prescient of a protected, authorized, and controlled hemp extract trade.”
Jasmine Johnson, CEO, GŪD Essence
“Federal rescheduling marks a long-overdue shift towards treating hashish because the medical, financial, and neighborhood situation it actually is—not a prison one. This modification opens the door for actual scientific analysis, fairer taxation, and extra sustainable operations for licensed operators who’ve been constructing responsibly regardless of outdated federal obstacles.
“For sufferers, rescheduling means higher entry, extra constant requirements, and merchandise backed by analysis as an alternative of stigma. For operators like us, it permits reinvestment into jobs, schooling, and neighborhood infrastructure fairly than navigating a system designed to penalise compliance.
“Rescheduling alone just isn’t the end line—however it’s a essential basis. The following step have to be making certain that small, minority-owned, and legacy-rooted companies should not left behind because the trade evolves. If accomplished thoughtfully, this second can lastly align public coverage with public actuality and create a hashish trade that’s protected, equitable, and economically sound.”
Paula Savchenko, Founding Associate, Cannacore Group and PS Legislation Group
“President Trump’s choice to reschedule marijuana to Schedule III displays a long-overdue acknowledgement of actuality: hashish has recognised medicinal worth, is used responsibly by tens of millions of People, and needs to be ruled by science, not stigma.
“For many years, federal hashish coverage has been untethered from medical proof and financial frequent sense. Schedule III standing aligns federal legislation extra intently with how hashish is definitely utilized in medical observe, analysis, and controlled markets throughout the nation. This shift opens the door to expanded medical analysis, clearer regulatory pathways, and a extra rational nationwide framework.
“Rescheduling marijuana to Schedule III is not only a hashish coverage shift; it’s a pivotal second for the hemp trade. For years, hemp operators have functioned in a fragmented and infrequently contradictory regulatory surroundings, regardless of Congress’s clear intent within the 2018 Farm Invoice to legalise hemp and its derivatives. Marijuana rescheduling has the potential to deliver long-needed readability, stability, and legitimacy to the broader cannabinoid market, if carried out accurately.
“When federal coverage begins to acknowledge that hashish has medicinal worth and may be regulated responsibly, it strengthens the argument that hemp-derived cannabinoids needs to be ruled by science, manufacturing requirements, and client security, not arbitrary enforcement or shifting interpretations.”
Tyler Cartwright, Co-Founder, Associate and Chief Working Officer, Larger Customary
“Larger Customary welcomes the choice by the federal authorities to reschedule hashish from Schedule I to Schedule III. This transfer represents long-overdue recognition that hashish has official worth and doesn’t belong in the identical authorized class as substances comparable to heroin. The rising physique of scientific and medical proof supporting hashish as each a major and adjunctive software in care has been clear for years, and this step brings federal coverage nearer to actuality.
“That mentioned, rescheduling just isn’t the top of the dialog. It’s the starting of a needed reckoning with how hashish and hemp are handled beneath U.S. legislation.
“Hashish and hemp are the identical plant, taxonomically and biologically. For years, firms throughout each sectors have developed merchandise that assist individuals handle ache, sleep, nervousness, focus, and general high quality of life, usually within the absence of any significant federal steering. As policymakers transfer ahead, we urge the administration and Congress to handle three essential points to make sure this transition is truthful, coherent, and future-proof.
“First, mental property and market protections have to be modernised to forestall the displacement of present operators by giant pharmaceutical pursuits. Firms which have responsibly developed cannabinoid-based merchandise beneath present legislation shouldn’t be worn out just because deep-pocketed corporations at the moment are pursuing FDA pathways. Innovation needs to be rewarded, not erased.
“Second, federal coverage should resolve the rising contradiction between marijuana rescheduling and the simultaneous effort to ban intoxicating compounds derived from hemp. Treating the identical plant as each medically official and categorically suspect relying on paperwork fairly than chemistry is untenable. A unified, science-based framework for cannabinoids is crucial for regulatory readability, client security, and financial stability.
“Lastly, we urge lawmakers to acknowledge the human price of many years of prohibition. Because the federal authorities formally recognises the medical worth of hashish, it should additionally handle sentencing disparities and the lasting hurt accomplished to growers, non-violent sellers, and advocates who have been punished for actions now being validated. Fairness can’t be an afterthought.
“Larger Customary helps evidence-based hashish coverage that protects customers, respects present companies, and displays scientific actuality fairly than political comfort. We look ahead to continued dialogue with regulators and stakeholders as this transition unfolds.”
Nicolas Guarino, Co-Founder and CEO, Jaunty, and Co-Founder, Empire Hashish Producers Alliance
“Rescheduling is a essential step towards totally integrating hashish into the mainstream financial system – one that almost all People already recognise as official. Part 280E of the IRS tax code has been one of many best burdens on operators throughout the availability chain, however rescheduling would enable hashish companies to be taxed like every other authorized trade, liberating up billions of {dollars} that may be reinvested into operations, innovation, and long-term development. It will additionally assist degree the enjoying discipline, lastly giving accountable operators who’ve performed by the principles a good shot to compete and succeed.
“Nevertheless, probably the most instant impression can be felt in medical markets. Grownup-use markets in 24 states and D.C. would nonetheless face vital federal limitations that hinder the trade from reaching its full potential. We’re hopeful that this choice marks a progressive and landmark choice – one which units a transparent precedent and helps advance improved measures like SAFE Banking, elevated entry to logistic suppliers and to capital, and finally, federal legalisation.”
