On Thursday, President Trump signed an executive order aimed at accelerating the reclassification of marijuana from Schedule I to the less restrictive Schedule III, with the intent of fostering more cannabis research.

This directive instructs the attorney general to hasten the rescheduling process that was initiated by the Biden administration but left incomplete when Trump took office. In August, Trump expressed his willingness to continue the efforts that Biden had started.

“The executive order being signed today is centered on boosting medical research for marijuana and CBD — cannabidiol,” a high-ranking administration official mentioned during a press briefing. “The president is keenly interested in the potential health benefits and has ordered a practical approach that will immediately begin enhancing research into medical marijuana and CBD to provide better information for patients and doctors. This is the main objective.”

“I want to make it clear that the order I am about to sign does not legalize marijuana in any manner and does not endorse its recreational use,” Trump stated during a briefing in the Oval Office.

On Thursday, the president cautioned against recreational marijuana use, saying, “When abused, powerful, controlled substances are never safe for recreational use, and especially in this context, illegal and unregulated drugs pose a very significant danger.”

“Unless a drug is recommended by a doctor for medical reasons, just don’t do it. At the same time, the facts compel the federal government to recognize that marijuana can be legitimate in terms of medical applications when carefully administered,” he added.

Trump cited polling data that found people the vast majority of people are in favor of marijuana rescheduling.

Under the Controlled Substances Act, a Schedule I substance is considered to have no currently accepted medical uses. A Schedule III substance is believed to have a “moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence.”

Administration officials cited reviews conducted by the Department of Health and Human Services in 2023 that found more than 30,000 licensed health care practitioners across the country were able to recommend medical marijuana to more than 6 million registered patients for at least 15 conditions.

Trump was joined by physicians on Thursday who welcomed the reclassification.

Ilana Braun, a cancer psychiatrist and medical cannabis researcher at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, said cannabis has a potential role as a non-addictive substance for managing anxieties during cancer care.

“Rescheduling allows us to ask these questions rigorously, about dosing, about safety and who may benefit most,” Braun said. “This research reflects the best of federal investment helping people not only live longer, but live better.”

Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, also defended the move during the press conference.

“We cannot close our eyes to research and the opportunity that we are hearing from patients that, for some of them, cannabis can solve their problem,” Volkow said. “And so, what we need to do is do research.”

The executive order will have no impact on criminal penalties or the recreational use of marijuana.

Rescheduling to Schedule III would also allow marijuana businesses to deduct expenses or add credits to their annual federal taxes, something businesses dealing with Schedule I and II substances are not permitted to do.

Senior administration officials declined to say whether Trump was considering expanding recreational use of marijuana as well.

Updated at 3:00 p.m. EST