President Donald Trump on Sunday shared a video promoting the health benefits of cannabis—suggesting that covering CBD under Medicare would be “the most important senior health initiative of the century.”
The Commonwealth Project’s video was produced in the wake of Trump’s announcement on marijuana rescheduling. This decision immediately attracted the attention from stakeholders.
What the nearly three-minute clip—which repeatedly refers to “hemp derived CBD”—means for broader marijuana rescheduling’s prospects is unclear. It also coincides with a heated debate about hemp laws in Congress, where some GOP legislators are pushing for an outright prohibition of cannabis with even traces of THC. Experts believe that this would eliminate the hemp market as even CBD-only products are impossible to manufacture without a certain amount of THC.
Trump’s video also includes a Fox News segment describing economic benefits from medical marijuana legalization. The clip says that on a yearly basis, it could save “$64 billion per year” if cannabis was fully integrated in the healthcare system.
Narration: “The 2018 Farm Bill, championed and signed by President Trump, was the first steps” towards modernizing healthcare integrating cannabis. The narration refers back to Trump’s first-term signature of the historic legislation which legalized federal hemp up to 0.3% THC.
The video states, “It’s now time for doctors to be educated on the endocannabinoid systems, that Medicare should cover CBD, and millions of senior citizens deserve the help they need.”
It is noteworthy that a campaign calling for Medicare to cover CBD at a time that senior politicians, such as Sen. Mitch McConnell, are pressing for policy changes which threaten the CBD market.
It says: “You’ll deliver the most significant senior health initiative in the history of this century, cementing and changing aging care.” You will be praised by millions of people around the world.
Although Trump did not directly address the video on his Facebook post, we have a transcription:
You can change the way senior care is delivered. 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 system makes the rest of our body work together smoothly, just like the conductor of an orchestra ensuring that all the sections play in harmony.
This system has been named the endocannabinoid. The National Institutes of Health has supported scientists in their extensive research and acknowledgement of this system. With age, our system weakens. In turn, our bodies’ systems stop working well together. It’s also one reason why older adults experience pain, swelling, cognitive decline, and other maladies of ageing for which they are prescribed dangerous, addictive drugs. In addition, lifestyle changes such as good nutrition and exercise are recommended. While all of this improves the system in a small way, over time it will only be a fraction.
Here’s a game-changer: CBD derived from hemp can help restore the system faster. The system will be restored when pain is relieved, stress reduced, and sleep improved. 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.
CBD is used by 20 percent of older adults for a variety of ailments, including pain, Alzheimer’s disease, Alzheimer’s symptoms, sleep problems, arthritis and cancer. There are FDA standards, but doctors do not have the expertise to guide patients. Imagine what would happen if this were true for all medications. Senior adults suffer needlessly. Hemp CBD helps them to feel better and live longer.
[Fox News clip:] Price Waterhouse Coopers estimates that the U.S. could save $64 billion annually if marijuana is integrated fully into its healthcare system.
It was President Trump’s groundbreaking 2018 Farm Bill that marked the beginning of a new era. The time has come to provide Medicare coverage for CBD, educate doctors on their endocannabinoid systems and support millions of senior citizens. Your legacy will be cemented and you’ll transform aging care. You will be praised by millions of people around the world.”
Commonwealth Project was the group responsible for the production of the video. It was also a particpant in the hearings that have been stalled since the Biden administration began the process to reschedule marijuana. It filed a submission to the Federal Docket saying that it would be “greater but not completely certain” for researchers and doctors to conduct research on the medical benefits of cannabis.
Meanwhile, a new poll shows that a majority of Americans don’t consider marijuana dangerous, though most do think consuming cannabis increases the likelihood that people will transition to using more dangerous drugs.
This poll represents the most recent temperature check on American attitudes toward drug policies as Trump considers a plan to shift marijuana from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act to Schedule III.
And while a leading prohibitionist group, Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM), recently claimed a poll they commissioned demonstrated majority opposition to rescheduling, a policy change that Trump endorsed on the campaign trail, the result flies in the face of multiple other national surveys showing support for reform that goes beyond rescheduling.
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Another recent survey from the Coalition for Cannabis Policy, Education, and Regulation (CPEAR), which was conducted by the firm Forbes Tate Partners, showed that seven in 10 American voters want to see the end of federal marijuana prohibition—and nearly half say they’d view the Trump administration more favorably if it took action on the issue.
A poll released in June that MEDCAN24 partnered on with the cannabis telehealth platform NuggMD showed that a majority of marijuana consumers disapprove of the Trump administration’s actions on cannabis policy to date, but there’s also a significant willingness among users to shift their position if the federal government opts to reschedule or legalize marijuana.
Earlier this year, meanwhile, a firm associated with Trump—Fabrizio, Lee & Associates—also polled Americans on a series of broader marijuana policy issues. Notably, it found that a majority of Republicans back cannabis rescheduling—and, notably, they’re even more supportive of allowing states to legalize marijuana without federal interference compared to the average voter.
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