GREEN LIGHT MEANS GO
Executive Order: Cannabis → Schedule III | Medicare Access Granted | Veterans “Need More Research”
They just confessed.
Not quietly.
Not accidentally.
Openly.
On the record.
In real time.
The government just did three things at once:
Admitted cannabis has accepted medical use… again
Admitted it can be prescribed within federal healthcare systems… again
Admitted it can be distributed safely to a vulnerable population… again
And then—without blinking—
They told veterans:
“Not you. We still need more research.”
That’s not caution.
That’s classification.
They didn’t delay access because of science.
They delayed it because veterans are inconvenient plaintiffs.
Seniors are passive recipients.
Veterans are trained adversaries.
Before this executive order, the government could hide behind:
Schedule I fiction
Treaty excuses
“Hands tied” bureaucracy
That’s gone.
Gone.
Now the legal terrain looks like this:
Cannabis = accepted medical use ✔
Federal healthcare systems can administer it ✔
Safety concerns overridden for Medicare ✔
Which means any denial to veterans is now:
Unequal treatment
Arbitrary and capricious
Legally indefensible under administrative law
A clean Equal Protection problem
They didn’t just weaken their position.
They nuked it from orbit.
From here on out, the filings get shorter, sharper, and meaner.
Lawyers will no longer argue whether cannabis is medicine.
The President just did that for them.
Now they’ll argue why veterans are excluded.
And there is no good answer.
“More Research” — The Oldest Lie in the File Cabinet
Let me translate “we need more research” into plain English:
“We are afraid of precedent.”
Because veterans are not just patients.
They are federal dependents with legal memory.
If you give veterans cannabis, you trigger:
Retroactive claims
VA malpractice exposure
Opioid liability comparisons
Disability rating challenges
Wrongful death questions
Suicide prevention accountability
Medicare patients don’t sue the state for sending them to war.
Veterans do.
That’s why seniors get access immediately
and veterans get a homework assignment.
I’ll be blunt.
This is institutional cowardice dressed up as prudence.
Uncle Sam will:
Hand cannabis to an 80-year-old with arthritis
While denying it to a 30-year-old Marine with PTSD
While continuing to prescribe fentanyl, benzodiazepines, and amphetamines
That’s not hypocrisy.
That’s moral triage.
They are choosing who is worth the risk.
And once again, the people who signed a blank check with their bodies are told to wait.
Again.
The Political Miscalculation
They think veterans won’t notice.
They think:
Schedule III placates reformers
Medicare access quiets the public
“More research” buys time
They’re wrong.
Veterans understand chains of command.
And this order just sent a very clear signal:
“You are less trusted than civilians.
Less deserving than seniors.
And more dangerous than sick people who vote quietly.”
That’s not a delay.
That’s a provocation.
From this moment forward, the case becomes:
Why did the federal government extend medical cannabis to one federally insured population while denying it to another under identical medical standards?
That’s a question judges understand.
That’s a question juries hate.
And now, thanks to this executive order, it’s a question that can’t be dodged.
If cannabis is safe enough for Medicare today,
it was safe enough for veterans yesterday.
Every day of delay from this point forward is not caution.
It’s liability accumulation.
Uncle Sam didn’t open the door halfway.
He opened it—and then stood in front of veterans and said:
“Not you.”
That’s not how you end wars.
That’s how you start new ones—
the quiet kind, fought in courtrooms, records rooms, and sworn testimony.
They don’t end with press releases.
They end with judgments.
This is not about whether you like cannabis.
It’s not about politics.
It’s not about culture wars or slogans.
This is about duty.
It is about whether the government of the United States may knowingly deny effective medical care to the very people it sent into harm’s way—after admitting it knows that care works.
The federal government has already allowed medical cannabis under its own laws.
It did so for Robert Randall in the 1970s, and others under the medical necessity defense throughout the 1980s.
That precedent was never overturned—only ignored.
Ignored while veterans died of overdoses.
Ignored while suicides climbed.
Ignored while safer alternatives were blocked.
Veterans are not asking for a favor.
We are asking for equal treatment under the law.
Veterans are federal patients.
Receiving care from a federal system.
Prescribed some of the most dangerous drugs known to medicine—opioids, benzodiazepines, stimulants—every single day.
And yet when a medicine that cannot cause a fatal overdose, that reduces opioid use, that helps with sleep, pain, and trauma is requested, the government says:
“Not yet. We need more research.”
That is not medicine.
The Government’s Position Doesn’t Make Sense — and You Know It
If cannabis has no medical value, why did the federal government authorize it for the Compassionate IND program?
If cannabis is too dangerous for veterans, why is it tolerated, studied, and used everywhere else?
If cannabis requires more research, why did it take seven years just to conduct a federal PTSD study—years lost to bureaucracy, not science?
And most importantly:
If doctors can be trusted with morphine, fentanyl, and oxycodone, why can’t they be trusted with cannabis?
There is no medical answer to that question.
There is only a political one.
The truth is simple and uncomfortable:
If veterans are granted access, the government must confront what it already knows—that many of its policies caused harm, and that safer alternatives were ignored.
This is not about protecting veterans.
It is about protecting the system from accountability.
The Moral Question
The government asked these people to risk everything—
their bodies, their minds, their futures.
They did not hesitate.
Now those same people are asking for access to a medicine that keeps them alive.
And the government is hesitating.
That hesitation has a cost.
Measured in overdoses.
Measured in suicides.
Measured in families left behind asking why help was denied when it was known to work.
The law does not require perfection.
It requires reasonableness.
It does not require fear.
It requires judgment.
And it does not allow the government to knowingly deny effective care to a class of people simply because acknowledging that care would be inconvenient.
This is not about the past.
It is about what happens now.
Veterans do not have the luxury of waiting years for studies that are obstructed by the same agencies demanding them.
They need access now.
Not as an experiment.
Not as a privilege.
But as care.
The government promised to leave no one behind.
Today, we need to decide whether that promise means something.
White House Cannabis Rescheduling Signing Ceremony: 12/18/2025
Refined Archival Transcript Provided by Alice O’Leary Randall (Abridged here)
Editorial Note: This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity following archival and congressional transcript standards. Filler words, repetitions, and caption artifacts have been removed. Meaning, intent, and emphasis have been preserved. Timestamps reflect speaker sections rather than caption intervals.
President Donald J. Trump (0:00–4:39; 18:31–20:06)
President Trump opened the ceremony by emphasizing that the executive order reclassifying marijuana does not legalize recreational use. He stressed that the action is intended solely to acknowledge legitimate medical applications and to facilitate scientific research. He cited widespread public support, the actions of forty states, and the potential for cannabis to reduce reliance on addictive opioid painkillers. Trump framed the decision as an act of common sense driven by patient suffering, particularly among individuals with cancer and chronic illness.
Dr. Mehmet Oz, Administrator, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (4:46–9:42)
Dr. Oz described the administration’s effort as a compassionate response to patient appeals, particularly from seniors. He announced a CMS Innovation Center initiative that will allow Medicare beneficiaries access to hemp-derived cannabinoid products, including CBD, pending physician recommendation. He outlined safeguards, data collection, and quality standards, noting that the initiative represents the first government-led effort to systematically study outcomes associated with cannabinoid use.
Dr. Elana Braun, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (9:48–11:05)
Dr. Braun emphasized the importance of rescheduling in enabling rigorous, federally supported research. She discussed ongoing studies examining non-addictive cannabinoids for anxiety and stress management during cancer treatment, underscoring the need for clear dosing, safety standards, and patient-centered outcomes.
Dr. David Casarett, Duke University (11:11–12:49)
Dr. Casarett recounted his clinical experience with terminal cancer patients seeking relief from symptoms. He highlighted how Schedule I status impeded large-scale research and explained how rescheduling would democratize research access, standardize study materials, and enable large randomized controlled trials essential to evidence-based medicine.
Dan Wheeler, National Commander, American Legion (12:57–14:32)
Representing veterans nationwide, Commander Wheeler spoke about the disproportionate burden of PTSD, traumatic brain injury, depression, and chronic pain among veterans. He emphasized that rescheduling will allow researchers to rigorously evaluate whether cannabis can play a role in addressing these conditions.
Dr. Nora Volkow, Director, National Institute on Drug Abuse (14:43–15:47)
Dr. Volkow stressed that rescheduling enables critical research into both the benefits and risks of cannabis use. She noted concerns regarding addiction and youth vulnerability while underscoring that scientific evidence is necessary to guide appropriate use and effective prevention strategies.
Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (15:53–18:24)
Secretary Kennedy acknowledged longstanding divisions surrounding cannabis policy. He noted that anecdotal claims—both positive and negative—have dominated discourse due to barriers to research. Rescheduling, he argued, will allow standardized dosing, comparative studies, and evidence-based conclusions. He credited President Trump with taking decisive action where prior administrations had stalled.
Howard Kessler (19:22–19:45)
Mr. Kessler briefly described his personal motivation for advocating change, focusing on the need to improve quality of life for seniors and accelerate practical medical research.
Signing of Executive Order and Press Q&A (20:06–end)
Following the signing, the President answered questions on unrelated topics including healthcare subsidies, Federal Reserve leadership, housing, foreign policy, and veterans’ benefits.
