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It’s not quite the rescheduling announcement many cannabis reform advocates have been waiting for, but President Donald Trump shared a video on Sept. 28 that calls for the federal government to provide Medicare coverage for CBD.
The video was created by the Commonwealth Project, an organization “rooted in the belief” that medical cannabis provided to seniors as an alternative to painkillers and other addictive pharmaceuticals will not only improve the quality of life for those 65 and older, but that medical cannabis fully integrated into the U.S. health care system would save nearly $64 billion annually, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report.
The Commonwealth Project is a designated participant for the now-stalled cannabis rescheduling hearing that was initiated under President Joe Biden’s administration. A now-retired administrative law judge stayed the hearing process in early January, before participants could debate the merits of a proposed rule to reclassify cannabis as a Schedule III drug.
Trump shared the Commonwealth Project’s video on Truth Social on Sunday evening. The video hailed Trump’s opportunity to “revolutionize senior health care” through reforming the nation’s laws on cannabis.
“We’ve all heard about the major systems in our bodies, like the digestive, respiratory, nervous and cardiovascular systems, but there’s one essential system discovered in the 90s that you probably never heard of,” the video’s narrator says. “It makes all of the other systems work smoothly with each other like a conductor, ensuring the different sections of an orchestra all play a beautiful symphony together. This system is called the endocannabinoid system.”
The human endocannabinoid system interacts with cannabinoids – compounds like THC and CBD that make up the cannabis plant – on an individualized basis. The system, in part, includes receptors in the nervous system and plays a role in a person’s homeostasis, as well as mood, appetite, pain, memory and other internal functions.
The human body naturally produces cannabinoids that are similar in chemical structure to cannabinoids from the cannabis plant, making compounds like THC and CBD easily recognizable by the receptors in a person’s endocannabinoid system.
With support from the National Institutes of Health, scientists have studied the endocannabinoid system “extensively,” according to the Commonwealth Project video that Trump shared.
“As we age, the system weakens. As a result, the different systems in our body stop working together smoothly,” the video’s narrator says. “That’s one of the reasons older adults struggle with pain, inflammation, cognitive decline and other ailments of aging for which doctors often prescribe dangerous and addictive pharmaceuticals.”
Health care practitioners also recommend healthy lifestyles to improve symptoms related to a weakened endocannabinoid system in seniors, from exercise, a good diet and stress management techniques such as meditation. These remedies may fractionally improve the system if done consistently over a long time, according to the Commonwealth Project.
“But here’s the game changer,” the narrator says. “The system can be restored faster using hemp-derived CBD. When the system is restored, pain subsides, sleep is improved, and stress is reduced. When the system is restored, disease progression can slow down, and years are added to your life as well as years spent in good health. And 20% of seniors are already using CBD today for pain, arthritis, cancer symptoms, sleep disorders, Alzheimer’s and many other ailments of aging.”
However, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has failed to regulate CBD, the main nonintoxicating compound of the cannabis/hemp plant, despite the federal government legalizing commercial hemp cultivation in the 2018 Farm Bill, which Trump signed during his first term.
RELATED: Where is the FDA on CBD?
With cannabis listed as a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act, meaning it has no currently accepted medical use in the U.S., and with hemp-derived CBD remaining unregulated by the FDA, most doctors are not equipped to guide patients on cannabinoids and the endocannabinoid system, according to the Commonwealth Project.
“Imagine if that were the case for other medications,” the narrator says. “Older adults are suffering needlessly. Hemp-derived CBD can help them feel better, live longer and improve their quality of life significantly. … The groundbreaking 2018 Farm Bill championed by President Trump was the first step. Now it’s time to educate doctors on the endocannabinoid system, provide Medicare coverage for CBD, and give millions of seniors the support they deserve.”
In leading these changes, Trump could deliver “the most important senior health initiative of the century, cementing your legacy and transforming aging care,” the narrator says. “Millions everywhere will thank you.”
Trump shared the Commonwealth Project’s video seven weeks after he said that his administration would determine whether to reschedule cannabis from a Schedule I to Schedule III substance “over the next few weeks.” The current Schedule III proposed rule was signed by former Attorney General Merrick Garland under the Biden administration.
Removing cannabis from a Schedule I listing would mean that the federal government recognizes the plant’s medicinal value.
“I’ve heard great things having to do with medical, and I’ve [heard] bad things having to do with just about everything else,” Trump said during an Aug. 11 White House press conference. “But medical and for pain and various things, I’ve heard some pretty good things.”
Before being named a cannabis rescheduling hearing designated participant, the Commonwealth Project’s founder, Howard Kessler, filed public comments with former Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Administrator Anne Milgram in July 2024.
Kessler encouraged the DEA and the Department of Justice under the Biden White House to move “as expeditiously as possible” on rescheduling cannabis.
“Considering the challenges that all Americans, and particularly seniors, face in accessing medical cannabis within their health care system, the Commonwealth Project urges the DOJ and the DEA to act swiftly and publish a final rule cementing this historic reform,” Kessler wrote. “A delay in promulgating rules would only serve to further perpetuate a status quo that is detrimental to the needs of today’s seniors, who do not have the luxury of time.”
With current Attorney General Pam Bondi and DEA Administrator Terry Cole in place, a potential final rule to move cannabis to Schedule III now lies in Trump’s hands.
The president’s most recent action on social media indicates he believes the plant has medicinal value and does not belong in Schedule I.
