Jamaica on Thursday welcomed with cautious optimism US President Donald Trump’s executive order rescheduling marijuana to a lower drug classification, describing the move as a major signal in the direction of further liberalisation at the US federal level, even while stopping short of full federal legalisation.

“The ultimate impact on banking access, cross-border investment, research collaboration and wider market engagement will depend on the final details of US implementation and how international compliance and financial ecosystems respond,” minister of state in the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce Delano Seiveright said in a statement after Trump signed the executive order in a ceremony in the Oval Office flanked by medical professionals.

“Today I’m pleased to announce that I will be signing an executive order to reschedule marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule III controlled substance, with legitimate medical uses,” Trump said. “We have people begging for me to do this. People who are in great pain. I think I probably have received more phone calls on this, on doing what we’re doing — I don’t think I received any calls on the other side of it.”

The order directs the attorney general to “take all necessary steps to complete the rule-making process” to reclassify marijuana from a Schedule I drug to a Schedule III drug “in the most expeditious manner”.

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) states that Schedule I applies to substances with“no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse” — the agency’s most stringent classification, which is applied to ecstasy, heroin, LSD, and marijuana.

The DEA uses Schedule III for substances “with a moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence”. Other Schedule III drugs include Tylenol with codeine, testosterone, anabolic steroids, and ketamine.

On Thursday, Trump said that for decades this action had been requested by American patients suffering from extreme pain, incurable diseases, aggressive cancers, seizure disorders, neurological problems, and more.

While the decision is regarded as one of the most significant changes to drug policy in decades, it does not change the fact that it remains illegal for recreational use at the federal level. However, it could open the door to more research into marijuana and expanded medical uses.

Additionally, it might lower the tax burden for state-licensed marijuana dispensaries in the dozens of states that have legalised the drug, since federal law bars businesses that sell Schedule I substances from taking some tax deductions.

In his response to the development Seiveright pointed to the research benefit.

“Moving cannabis to Schedule III, if completed through the required administrative process, would materially ease barriers to medical and scientific research, expand clinical study opportunities, and alter the operating environment for regulated cannabis activity. This federal step also reflects how far practice has already evolved in the United States, where 24 states permit adult recreational use and approximately 40 states allow medical use, despite cannabis remaining federally illegal,” Seiveright said.

He added that Jamaica, through Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce and the Cannabis Licensing Authority, will assess developments carefully, engage stakeholders, and monitor knock-on effects.