Posted on December 19, 2025 View all news
On December 18, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order initiating an administrative process to reschedule cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act. The President asserted that this change would expand research into cannabis’s medical potential, while Dr. Oz characterized the move as “common sense” and suggested that CBD would become freely accessible to Medicare participants.
What was not acknowledged is that FDA-approved cannabis-derived medications already exist, including Epidiolex (CBD), approved for certain seizure disorders, and Marinol, a low-dose synthetic THC prescribed to stimulate appetite and reduce nausea. Nor did the administration acknowledge that between 2000 and 2018, the federal government awarded approximately $1.49 billion in cannabis research funding, or that more than 50,000 peer-reviewed scientific studies on marijuana have been published over the past four decades—many of which document significant harms associated with THC exposure.
This body of evidence demonstrates that cannabis’s classification as a Schedule I substance has not prevented research from being conducted, nor has it limited the federal government’s ability to study both its potential medical applications and its risks.
Additionally, the federal government’s failure to enforce existing drug laws has allowed cannabis products to operate with near impunity, despite well-documented harms to people of all ages, predatory marketing practices, inadequate risk disclosure, and pervasive false or misleading medical claims.
Every Brain Matters supports scientifically proven medical uses of cannabis-derived compounds and welcomes additional research, provided that research is independent, rigorous, and free from political or profit-driven influence. However, we are deeply disappointed that President Trump supports rescheduling cannabis, which will incentivize an already out-of-control, addiction-for-profit, state-sanctioned cannabis industry. Rescheduling confers advantages that make it easier for the industry to profit, enabling the expansion of predatory marketing and the continued misleading of the American public about the real risks of today’s THC products—while families harmed by cannabis are left emotionally and financially exhausted, unheard, and unsupported
Rather than rescheduling cannabis in a way that further normalizes use and increases harm, the President could have pursued policies that actually reduced risk. These include removing unsafe products from state shelves until they are proven safe and medicinal, enforcing existing federal law while modernizing research pathways, or establishing a research framework that expands scientific inquiry without rewarding harmful commercial practices.
The administration’s press conference announcing the executive order failed to acknowledge that the federal government already possesses extensive evidence of cannabis-related harms—some lethal—despite Secretary Kennedy stating they have no evidence of harms. These harms are contributing to rising rates of road fatalities, addiction, physical illness (including cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome), mental illness (including psychosis and schizophrenia), homelessness, suicide, and violence nationwide.
The Every Brain Matters community represents thousands of families living with the real and lasting consequences of marijuana commercialization. Yet our government continues to fail us—offering no meaningful prevention education for the public or the medical community, and lacking the infrastructure necessary to address cannabis-related harms. Cannabis is legally sold, yet insurance companies are not required to cover inpatient treatment programs, even though approximately 30% of users develop cannabis use disorder.
Our families are devastated that President Trump has publicly stated he is listening to “his friends,” while repeatedly failing to respond to our requests to meet, listen, and learn about the emotional, medical, and financial toll this industry has imposed on our families.
This past year, our partner organization in Texas, Citizens for a Safe and Healthy Texas, worked to close the hemp loophole and ban intoxicating THC products derived from hemp. Governor Abbott—like President Trump—refused to meet with families harmed by the industry.
This is what happens when our government listens to “We the corporations” instead of “We the people.” Drugs continue to win the war FOR drugs, while families pay the price.
The United States must:
- Establish enforceable impairment standards
- Mandate national surveillance of cannabis-related harms
- Address escalating THC potency
- Fund prevention, treatment, and recovery infrastructure
- Require FDA-level safety and efficacy evidence for all cannabis products
Until these protections are in place, rescheduling marijuana is reckless and dangerous.
Public health policy must serve people—not profits—because Every Brain Matters.
Aubree Adams, on behalf of families and the Every Brain Matters Board of Directors
I agree with a lot of what you’ve stated here. What I don’t agree with is the heavy punishment related far to often with Marijuana being a schedule 1. I guess from my perspective the rescheduling is an attempt to put that in balance, therefore I support the president.