'Mission accomplished': Montana marijuana industry reacts to Trump rescheduling order – belgrade-news.com
Montana’s marijuana industry was triumphant on Dec. 18 to the news of President Donald Trump’s executive order easing federal restrictions on what will still be considered a drug.
“Mission accomplished,” said J.D. “Pepper” Petersen, president and CEO of the Montana Cannabis Guild.
Montana has had a regulated marijuana market since 2004, when voters approved medical cannabis. Voters again approved recreational marijuana legalization in 2020 by a wide margin, including some of the states deepest Republican strongholds.
Trump’s order issued on Dec. 18 does not throw open the doors to national legalization. Rather, it directs federal agencies to downgrade cannabis from the most restrictive classification of drugs to what’s called Schedule III, where products have an accepted medical use but are still considered to have potential for dependence issues.
Being categorized as a Schedule I drug meant the federal government acknowledged no medical use and considered it to be among the most dangerous.
“It’s a step toward the greater reality,” said Kate Cholewa, government affairs specialist with the Montana Cannabis Industry Association. “Regardless of what anybody thinks about cannabis, it is not a Schedule 1 drug on par with heroin and PCP.”
Cholewa was more reserved about the day’s news: There could be bumps along the way to that reclassification, and federal policies are challenged in court all the time.
“But overall, it’s very good news,” she said. “It’s good news for medical research and seniors using CBD for health reasons.”
The head of the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services said Dec. 18 the change will allow millions of Americans on Medicare to become eligible for CBD treatment.
Marijuana businesses will likely benefit from the shift. Top of mind for Cholewa and Petersen will be the prospect of providers writing off their business expenses, which was previously precluded because they were dealing with a federally illegal drug.
Banking and other financial services, Cholewa said, may also be on the horizon.
Montana and marijuana
Petersen played a leading role in the state’s legalization campaign for recreational marijuana in 2020, and said that effort was, at least in part, motivated to show Washington, D.C., that even Republican-led states were on board with cannabis.
“We knew that Montana’s legalization would have ripple effects,” Petersen said. “Of course we wanted it in Montana so it could solve injustices at home and we knew Montana should get that tax money. But a big part of the calculus was influencing the Republican members of Congress so they could see that a red state like Montana would support legalization.”
Democrats have long been the proponents of stepping marijuana down from Schedule III. Even after legalization in Montana, the Republican led-Legislature has taken different approaches and scaling back access and hampering business.
That Trump was the president to begin reversing prohibition, Petersen said, was a surprise.
“I’m always surprised at everything Donald Trump does because Trump is a disruptor,” he said. “Nobody could have planned this the way it happened.”
After the vote in 2020, the state Legislature set out to implement a regulatory framework that has largely remained intact after its early years in effect.
The state and industry, meanwhile, have largely been on the same page about restricting new businesses from pouring into the industry through different moratoriums, either by new business licenses or a freeze on the existing square footage of the industry.
These provisions will likewise remain unchanged by the Dec. 18 executive order.
To view our latest e-Edition, click the image on the left.
Your browser is out of date and potentially vulnerable to security risks.
We recommend switching to one of the following browsers:
Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device.
Sorry, an error occurred.
Already Subscribed!
Cancel anytime
Account processing issue – the email address may already exist
Sign up with
Thank you .
Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in.
Check your email for details.
Invalid password or account does not exist
Sign in with
Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.
An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the email address listed on your account.
No promotional rates found.
Secure & Encrypted
Secure transaction. Secure transaction. Cancel anytime.
Thank you.
Your gift purchase was successful! Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in.
A receipt was sent to your email.