President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an order directing the federal government to loosen marijuana regulations and accelerate a long-stalled effort to reclassify the drug, a step that could mark one of the biggest federal shifts on cannabis policy in decades, Reuters reported.

The order instructs the attorney general to move quickly on rescheduling marijuana. If reclassified, marijuana would remain illegal under federal law but be listed as a less dangerous drug alongside substances such as certain painkillers, ketamine and testosterone, Reuters said. 

The Drug Enforcement Administration must review the recommendation and decide whether to reclassify marijuana to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act—a process that has previously bogged down twice in previous efforts to legalize cannabis, Reuters reported.

The cannabis sector separately remains challenged by federal anti-money laundering laws, which disincentivize banks and institutional investors from providing services to marijuana producers and dispensaries.

In the 2014, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) opened the doors to banks working in the sector with guidance on suspicious activity reporting that allows financial institutions to differentiate between financial activity linked to state-sanctioned cannabis companies and payments tied to drug traffickers. 

The new executive order “marks an important step toward greater regulatory clarity and institutional acceptance of cannabis worldwide,” a spokesperson for cannabis company Organigram Global told Reuters.

Read more at Reuters