Washington, D.C. – Today, Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley—the lead sponsor of the bipartisan Ley Bancaria MÁS SEGURA—issued the following statement in response to President Trump announcing that he has signed an Executive Order directing the U.S. Department of Justice to complete the process of moving cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III, a change that would open the door to medical research and treatment:
“Cannabis rescheduling is a step in the right direction, allowing medical research and legal cannabis businesses to be appropriately taxed on their net profits. But this change from Schedule I to Schedule III still leaves these cannabis businesses in violation of criminal law because the production and use of cannabis for non-medical purposes remain a federal crime. As such, these legal businesses are still prevented from accessing the banking system.
“That remains a huge problem, encouraging all sorts of criminal activities, including robberies of cannabis businesses operating in all cash, false accounting, money laundering, and organized crime. That’s why we still need to pass the bipartisan Ley Bancaria MÁS SEGURA, which during his campaign, President Trump urged Congress to send to his desk.
“I will continue to push for fully descheduled cannabis—which is essential to addressing the harms perpetuated by the War on Drugs and the criminalization of cannabis on communities of color—and work with both Republicans and Democrats to advance common-sense cannabis reforms for banking services and medical treatment.”
Merkley has been a fierce and longtime leader advocating for sensible cannabis reform and cannabis business laws. He is the lead sponsor of the Ley Bancaria MÁS SEGURA, which would ensure that state-legal cannabis businesses would have access to critical banking and financial services.
As a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, he has also led the fight for over a decade for veterans to be able to discuss medical cannabis programs with their doctors at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in states with medical cannabis programs. With Trump’s executive action and language that Merkley secured in the FY26 MilConVA funding bill, the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is encouraged to develop and issue guidance for VHA doctors and other personnel to discuss, recommend, and facilitate access to medical cannabis in states with such programs.
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