Maryland cannabis business owners are celebrating President Trump’s move to reclassify marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule III drug.

The president’s executive order reclassifies marijuana from the likes of heroin and ecstasy to drugs like ketamine and anabolic steroids. 

While the policy change does not legalize recreational cannabis use nationally, it can change the way it’s regulated. 

One dispensary owner is calling the move a “tremendous upswing.” 

An expert from the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) said it’s going to open the door for more research. 

Impact on Maryland businesses 

Tony Toskov is one of the many cannabis business owners applauding the reclassification. 

He started Green Point Wellness seven years ago and has since become one of the industry’s veterans in Maryland. 

The industry has been subject to 50% higher income taxes, according to Toskov, and hasn’t been able to deduct things that other industries and businesses can.  

“We’re not allowed to depreciate anything, we’re not allowed to deduct the employee’s payroll,” Toskov said. “We’re in a whole different tax situation.”

Joe Andreae, CEO of CULTA, said Trump’s executive order “will open a new chapter for legal cannabis and help reduce the stigma that has held our industry back.”

“While rescheduling will not solve every problem facing cannabis operators, it is a critical step toward aligning federal policy with the realities of a regulated cannabis industry,” Andreae said.

That’s what Toskov is hoping for as well.

“Every penny that’s invested into the facility has to come out of pocket. There are banks in Maryland that handle the money from dispensaries, but [Trump’s executive order] opens up a market that would be a lot more successful for the industry if banking got better as well,” he said.

Toskov and other cannabis business owners WJZ spoke to also said this reclassification could also lead to a cut down on the black market for cannabis.

Need for more research 

Before signing his executive order Thursday, Mr. Trump said many have been begging him to sign it. 

He also said it’ll open the door for more research into the drug.

Chad Johnson, director of graduate studies in medical cannabis at UMB School of Pharmacy, said more research will further prove cannabis’s effectiveness for things like chronic pain and anxiety.

“I think just a lot of that needs some hard science to back it up with some clinical studies, so we can give validity to some of the claims,” Johnson said.

Johnson added that too many barriers exist to study Schedule I drugs, something U.S. Rep. Andy Harris disagrees with.

“To use doing research as an excuse to go from Schedule I to Schedule III, it’s just not fair,” Harris said Tuesday during a webinar hosted by the National Drug & Alcohol Screening Association (NDASA). “It’s not accurate. You can do all the research you want on Schedule I.”