WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order as soon as this week that would fast-track the reclassification of cannabis and acknowledge its medical benefits for the first time at the federal level, four people with direct knowledge of the plans told NBC News.

Cannabis is classified in the same category as heroin and LSD under the Controlled Substances Act of 1970. Moving the drug from Schedule I to Schedule III would ease regulatory hurdles and allow the Food and Drug Administration to study cannabis for medical purposes, potentially opening it up for wider medical use by seniors, veterans and others as a pharmaceutical, irrespective of state laws.

The executive order would not make cannabis legal at the federal level, however.

Trump on Monday said his administration is “considering” the move. “We are considering that because a lot of people want to see it — the reclassification, because it leads to tremendous amounts of research that can’t be done unless you reclassify. So, we are looking at that very strongly,” Trump told reporters.

The executive order is expected to direct the Drug Enforcement Administration administrator or Attorney General Pam Bondi to conclude the formal rescheduling process, which has been ongoing for more than a year, and move to publish the final rule that would reclassify cannabis to Schedule III, the four people with knowledge of the plans said.

The formal process began under the Biden administration in 2024 and a hearing on the drug’s proposed rescheduling has been on hold for administrative reasons since the beginning of this year.

Trump’s executive order could also include a directive to Congress to pass the SAFER Banking Act, bipartisan legislation that would give legal cannabis businesses access to major banks and financial institutions, two of the sources said. Under current law, banks and creditors could face federal prosecution if they provide services to legal businesses selling cannabis.

Another possibility is a directive to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to allow for the reimbursement of CBD products under Medicare, according to two sources familiar with drafts of the order.

The developments come after Trump hosted a group of cannabis executives in the Oval Office last week and held multiple meetings that included FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and CMS administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz, two people familiar with the discussions said.

On the campaign trail in 2024, Trump vowed to “unlock the medical uses of marijuana” by reclassifying the drug if re-elected president. He also split with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who challenged him in the Republican primary, by supporting a ballot initiative that would have legalized recreational marijuana in Florida. That measure failed after an intense lobbying effort from DeSantis.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who has pushed for legislation to decriminalize cannabis, said that if Trump’s expected executive order does not go far enough and called it “an attempt to boost his pathetic approval ratings.”

“Trump will try to gaslight everyone into believing he just made pot legal. Wrong,” Wyden posted on X. “He has not decriminalized cannabis or expunged the records of black and Latino Americans stuck in prison for minor drug offenses.”

Thousands of Americans are still imprisoned for low-level cannabis possession and distribution offenses since the war on drugs escalated in the 1990s.

Adrian Rocha, policy director for the Last Prisoner Project, which advocates for people incarcerated for minor cannabis offenses, said Trump’s executive order would be a “major shift in federal policy,” but called on him to couple it “with clemency for people imprisoned for cannabis-related offenses.”

“That would also send a message to state governors, who also have the power to grant clemency their constituents,” Rocha said.

According to a November poll from Gallup, 64% of U.S. adults think the use of marijuana should be legal.

Last month, Trump signed a provision into law, as part of the bill that ended the government shutdown, that will crack down on low-THC hemp-derived products sold around the country, even in states without legal recreational marijuana laws.