Donald Trump’s return to the White House presents both opportunities — as well as uncertainty — for the cannabis industry and its ability to fully access the banking and payments industries.
Hopes for the cannabis industry to gain freer access to the banking system soared when former President Biden as a Schedule III drug, but the momentum for either full legalization or passage of the SAFER Banking Act stalled later in his administration.
But hopes are high again. Tyler Beuerlein, chief strategic business development officer at Safe Harbor Financial — a firm that assists cannabis businesses to find banking solutions — says Trump may ultimately be positive for the industry because he has been more open to legalization and generally supportive of new industries. Industry experts like him see potential gains not from direct cannabis policy shifts, but from broader financial and economic incentives.
“Trump, he’s actually very transparent,” he said. “I’ve been wildly pessimistic about legislative progress in the past … but I actually think there are some tailwinds right now, and I actually believe they have nothing to do with cannabis.”
Not a lot is known about Trump’s stance on cannabis, but he has shown increasing ties to industry leaders and support for state-level measures. Trulieve CEO Kim Rivers and Cresco Labs CEO Charlie Bachtell attended his inauguration, signaling at least some level of industry engagement.
Early this year, the Biden administration’s cannabis rescheduling effort suffered a major setback after DEA Administrative Law Judge John Mulrooney canceled the scheduled marijuana rescheduling hearings in mid-January, delaying the reform process for months. The decision followed a legal challenge from pro-reform witnesses, who argued that DEA officials engaged in improper communications and biased witness selection. Mulrooney’s ruling asserts that federal law doesn’t prevent him from halting the hearings and suggesting a fresh start with a new recommendation. Ultimately, the decision to accept or disregard any ruling rests entirely with the incoming DEA administrator.
While Mulrooney rejected calls to remove the DEA from the proceedings, he granted an interlocutory appeal, citing procedural missteps and agency misconduct. The hearings, originally set for January 21, are now on hold.
Days later, Trump’s appointment of Derek S. Maltz as acting DEA administrator marked another headwind for the cannabis sector. A longtime opponent of legalization, Maltz has openly criticized federal rescheduling efforts and linked cannabis to crime and public safety concerns.
However, some cannabis advocates like Morgan Paxhia, co-founder and managing partner of , a cannabis investment fund, say Maltz’s appointment might not be the death knell it appears to be.
“We think it is better to focus less on any appointee’s dated/biased views on cannabis and more so on POTUS as the primary input for potential legislative reform and as it pertains to the scheduling of cannabis,” she wrote in an email. “President Trump has been getting smart on legal cannabis, sees the economic benefits and is pro MAGA and DOGE.”
In May 2024, the Biden Justice Department published in the Federal Register a notice of proposed rulemaking proposing to move marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III. The agency held an initial public hearing on the proposal in December 2024 but after the DEA stalled further consideration of rescheduling, it is unknown whether the DOJ will finalize the proposal and, if so, what controls the agency would impose on marijuana.
Shifting marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III wouldn’t automatically align state-legal medical or recreational marijuana with federal law under the Controlled Substances Act of 1970. The primary distinction between its current Schedule I status and Schedule III placement is that Schedule III substances are recognized for medical use and can be legally prescribed, unlike Schedule I substances, which cannot be. That said, for any prescription drug to be legal, it must receive FDA approval, and while the FDA has approved certain cannabis-derived medications, marijuana itself remains unapproved by the agency.
Likewise, the manufacture, distribution, and possession of recreational marijuana — even at Schedule III status — would remain illegal under federal law and potentially subject to federal prosecution, a downside for advocates like Jim Higdon, co-founder of Cornbread Hemp.
“It’s half-solving a problem … moving the problem towards resolution without fully resolving it,” he said. “Nobody on the advocacy side woke up one day and said, ‘What we really need is Schedule III.’ It would appear that consumers won’t see much…
Read More: Cannabis advocates see banking opportunities under Trump