South Florida attorney weighs in on move to ease restrictions on medical marijuana

On Thursday, the Trump administration signed an executive order to ease restrictions on state licensed medical marijuana. However, it doesn’t make the drug legal.

The Trump administration signed an executive order to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug and allow the Food and Drug Administration to study it for medical purposes.

The order doesn’t legalize marijuana, but would reclassify it as a Schedule III substance, or a drug with a moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence. Heroin, for comparison, is among the substances classified as a Schedule I drug.

Moving the drug from Schedule I to Schedule III would ease regulatory hurdles and allow the FDA to study cannabis for medical purposes, potentially opening it up for wider medical use by seniors, veterans and others as a pharmaceutical drug.

Attorney Paula Savchenko is the founder of PS law group in South Florida, a law firm focused on regulated industries. She’s also the founder of Cannacore Group, a consulting firm for the cannabis industry.

“This is a monumental move for the marijuana industry as a whole,” Savchenko said. “We really need to open the pathway for additional research so we can have a better understanding of the medical benefits that we can receive from these products.”

A November 2025 Gallup poll found that 64- percent of U.S. adults think the use of marijuana should be legal.

There’s opposition on Capitol Hill. Twenty-two Republican senators signed a letter to President Trump in December objecting to the change, including Florida Sen. Rick Scott.

Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton is also among them. He posted on X Thursday that marijuana is more potent than 10 or 20 years ago, calling the move “a step in the wrong direction.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis briefly weighed in as well Thursday.

“You see a lot of these stores around the state, I don’t think it’s a good thing but it is what it is,” DeSantis said.

Savchenko believes it’s a step in the right direction.

“Anything can be harmful in a certain amount and everything is about using something the right way and responsibility,” Savchenko said. “We’re still fighting at both the federal and state level to be able to operate as a legitimate business.”

The Justice Department set a hearing for June to consider reclassifying marijuana more generally to Schedule III.