How donors, access and polls led Trump to reclassify marijuana

President Donald Trump’s move Thursday to sign an executive order easing federal restrictions on marijuana — and clearing the way for a Medicare pilot program covering CBD — caps a coordinated, yearlong push by the cannabis industry that combined traditional lobbying, sizable political donations, data-driven messaging and direct outreach to the president’s inner circle, industry insiders told CNBC.

Despite long-standing GOP opposition to loosening drug laws — including a small wave of bills from lawmakers seeking to tighten rules after the executive order — industry advocates have claimed a victory. They see the order as a success in reframing marijuana not as a social issue, but as a pro-business policy, ultimately winning over a president famous for his sobriety.

“I’ve never been inundated by so many people as I have about” reclassifying marijuana, Trump said during a signing ceremony in the Oval Office on Thursday.

Three figures emerged as the primary architects of this policy shift, according to multiple insiders, including one CEO of a cannabis company listed on the New York Stock Exchange, who requested anonymity to speak candidly. The key players were Howard Kessler, a Palm Beach billionaire and longtime friend of the president; Kim Rivers, the CEO of cannabis giant Trulieve; and Tony Fabrizio, Trump’s longtime pollster, the people said.

Kessler, known for pioneering affinity credit cards, has been in Trump’s orbit since at least 2005, attending Trump’s wedding to Melania Trump and appearing at Mar-a-Lago and state dinners.

A leukemia survivor, Kessler began advocating for the medical benefits of cannabis for seniors in 2019, founding The Commonwealth Project to advance the cause. In September, Trump shared a Commonwealth Project video on Truth Social that said CBD coverage was “the most important senior health initiative of the century.”

Other prominent members of the Trump administration noted Kessler’s influence on Thursday.

During the signing ceremony, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said, “We wouldn’t be here today” without Kessler.

“God bless you for being a pain in our sides,” Dr. Mehmet Oz, the head of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, joked to Kessler in the Oval Office. Oz added that Kessler had promised to finally stop calling the president about the issue once the order was signed.

Kessler did not respond to a request for comment.

The White House said Trump’s executive order would open up access for new treatments.

“The presence of several leaders from law enforcement and veterans groups at the Oval Office signing is indicative of how President Trump continues to push the envelope to support our nation’s heroes,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement.

Kim Rivers, CEO of Trulieve, one of the largest U.S. cannabis companies, has also cultivated a close relationship with the Trump administration, people familiar with the matter told CNBC, specifically through a personal connection with Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles.

Although Wiles was not a registered lobbyist for Trulieve, she previously worked at Ballard Partners, a Florida lobbying firm that represents the company.

“They [the Trump administration] want to see safe, regulated, tested products,” Rivers told CNBC’s “Fast Monday” Thursday night, adding that she’s interpreting the White House’s language as a signal that the administration intends to rein in a chaotic market rather than expand it unchecked.

“Millions of Americans are using medical cannabis,” Rivers said. “The president is very clear that he wants folks to be able to have access to safe, regulated, researched products in controlled environments.”

Rivers attended two pre-inauguration events, including a dinner for Vice President JD Vance, and reportedly joined a $1 million-a-plate fundraiser at Trump’s New Jersey golf club in August, where she urged him to reclassify marijuana, the Wall Street Journal first reported.

Trulieve’s campaign spending also backed Trump. Federal Election Commission filings show Trulieve donated $750,000 to Trump’s inauguration committee and $250,000 to his MAGA Inc. super PAC.

The company reportedly played a key role in securing Trump’s backing for a Florida ballot initiative to legalize recreational cannabis for adults over 21. While the initiative failed, Florida Division of Elections records show Trulieve spent more than $100 million on the election.

The president also received data from his pollster, Fabrizio, who has his own ties to the issue.

American Rights and Reform, a cannabis-backed super PAC, paid six figures to the firm Fabrizio leads to run a poll that found broad voter support for rescheduling, according to FEC filings.

During the signing ceremony Thursday, Trump referenced Fabrizio’s data multiple times, highlighting a survey published in March that illustrated broad voter support for loosening restrictions. The data showed that young voters, aged 18 to 34, were the leading majority in supporting reform at about 80%.

Fabrizio’s son, AJ Fabrizio, is also a vocal figure in the cannabis industry and a CEO who has said he turned to medical marijuana to treat his own epilepsy.

AJ Fabrizio created his own cannabis extract brand called IVXX — a line of carbon dioxide-extracted hash oil made exclusively for Terra Tech Corp., a publicly traded cannabis company that owns dispensaries such as The Green Door in San Francisco and Blum in Oakland, California.

In interviews, AJ has described moving from skepticism to advocacy after cannabis stopped his seizures. He has also compared the future of cannabis to “Standard Oil” — arguing in a recent podcast interview that just as Rockefeller turned oil byproducts into a petrochemical empire, the cannabis industry is poised to revolutionize materials, medicine and nutrition.