Kim Rivers, 48, founder and CEO of the cannabis company Trulieve, will never forget December 18, 2025. The Florida entrepreneur was among the guests in the Oval Office when U.S. President Donald Trump signed the historic order to reclassify marijuana in the United States as a lowerrisk drug, moving it from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act. The president's order, which recently took effect, does not legalize recreational marijuana nationwide, but it allows companies like Trulieve to operate with far better tax treatment and opens the door to scientific and medical research in an industry valued at more than $30 billion.
It's hard to see the big headlines of, 'Marijuana rescheduled to [Schedule] III; marijuana research will open,' says Gillian Schauer, executive director of the nonpartisan Cannabis Regulators Association, which includes agencies from 46 states. 'You know, those things are not true as of now.'