Staff Reporter

American president Donald Trump has signed an executive order directing the Department of Justice to fast-track the reclassification of marijuana, a major shift in federal drug policy that acknowledges the plant’s medical potential while stopping short of full nationwide legalization.

The order, signed in the Oval Office requires Attorney General Pam Bondi to expedite the administrative process of moving marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act.

For more than 50 years, marijuana has been classified as a Schedule I substance, a category reserved for drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse, such as heroin and LSD.

The transition to Schedule III places it alongside substances like ketamine, anabolic steroids, and Tylenol with codeine.

“We have people begging for me to do this, people living through tremendous pain and incurable diseases.” Trump said.

While the order does not legalize recreational use federally, it removes significant bureaucratic hurdles that have long stymied scientific inquiry.