What Trump’s Schedule III Cannabis Executive Order Could Mean Digital Embellishment in USA

On December 18, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order aimed at moving marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act. 

While I know that sounds like “legalization” to a lot of people, in reality it is not.

This is a meaningful federal shift, but it does not wipe out state-by-state rules, and it does not suddenly make recreational cannabis federally legal.  The order is also not the finish line. It is a directive to complete the rulemaking process, which means the real-world impact depends on how regulators execute over the coming months. 

What actually changed, in practical terms?

The executive order directs the Attorney General to take steps to complete rulemaking to reschedule marijuana to Schedule III.  If that rescheduling is finalized, it can reduce friction in a few areas that matter to operators, including research access and business economics. 

The biggest near-term business lever people keep circling is taxes. IRS Code Section 280E has been applied to cannabis businesses because cannabis has been treated as a Schedule I substance at the federal level. Legal and tax analysts note that 280E applies to Schedule I and II substances, so a shift to Schedule III would remove that specific tax burden for state-legal operators. 

That matters because when businesses keep more cash, they invest more. New SKUs. Better packaging. More marketing. More launches. More test runs. More premium versions. That is where print gets pulled into the slipstream.

The ripple effect into packaging and digital embellishment

Digital embellishment (foil, raised varnish, spot UV, tactile effects, and the rest of the “make it feel expensive” toolkit) tends to thrive in markets with three characteristics:

1. Lots of brands competing for attention

2. Lots of new product variations and limited drops

3. Lots of compliance requirements that change often

Cannabis has been all three. Rescheduling might soften some of that chaos over time, but it will not remove it. 

So here are the three questions I keep getting, and my honest take.

1) Will more companies enter the market and order more premium print?

I think the answer is yes, especially in the short to medium term.

Rescheduling to Schedule III is a signal to bigger, more risk-averse organizations that the federal government is acknowledging legitimate medical use and moving away from the “most restrictive” category.  That kind of signal invites more structured capital, more conservative partners, and more “real” CPG-style operating behavior.

When that happens, packaging demand tends to rise for a simple reason: scaling companies need consistent, shelf-ready, retail-ready presentation. Even if you do not love cannabis as a category, you can’t deny that packaging is a core battlefield. Dispensary

shelves and pharmacy-like environments are crowded, and visual differentiation still sells.

Digital embellishment benefits because it is a cheat code for premiumization without retooling the entire packaging line. You can take a standard label and make it feel like a luxury product with a small set of upgrades.

If the tax side improves because 280E no longer applies post-rescheduling, that extra cash flow can become marketing spend and packaging spend fast. 

2) Will cannabis packaging become a commodity, killing the “cool packaging” era?

This is the nuanced one.

A more medical and regulated direction can push parts of the industry toward more

standardized, compliance-forward packaging. That is consistent with how analysts describe the overall “not legalization” reality and the likelihood that consumers will not see immediate access changes without additional policy action.  In plain language: you can end up with packaging that looks more like regulated wellness, and less like hype culture.

But here’s the other side. More entrants does not reduce the need for branding. It increases it.

As markets get more crowded, brands either race to the bottom on price or race upward on perceived value. Premium packaging is how you justify margin when products begin to look similar. The “commodity” future, if it comes, does not eliminate embellishment. It splits the market:

• Value tier: simple, compliant, cost-efficient packaging

• Premium tier: tactile, high-impact packaging that creates a reason to choose you

In other words, basic packaging might get more standardized, but premium packaging will not go away. It will become the profit engine.

3) Will print runs get longer now that rules might stabilize?

Maybe, but it cuts both ways.

Today, the patchwork of state rules drives short runs and constant label edits. If rescheduling eventually contributes to more uniform standards, you can see longer runs for certain products, and some of that might shift toward conventional methods for sheer cost-per-unit efficiency at high volumes.

At the same time, this transition itself can create a burst of changes. New interpretations. New compliance language. New distribution strategies. Companies adapting in real time. 

That often creates more short-run work before it creates less.

Also, more professionalization usually means more SKUs, not fewer. Line extensions, dosage

variants, seasonal drops, collabs, region-specific versions, and testing new product formats. That reality keeps digital relevant, because digital’s superpower is agility. And embellishment pairs beautifully with agility.

So my take: you might see some longer runs in mature, stable product lines, but you will also see a long tail of short-run, high-variation packaging that still needs digital.

What smart printers do next

If you print for cannabis brands (or want to), this is a moment to get ahead of demand and reposition your value.

Here are practical moves I would make:

• Build a compliance-first menu. Premium does not have to mean “flashy.”   

• Own the rebrand wave. Any federal shift triggers brand conversations. New ownership groups, new distribution ambitions, new packaging systems. Be the printer who can handle the change fast. 

• Offer a two-tier packaging system. A standardized compliant base, plus premium “hero” versions for top SKUs and limited drops. This protects margins while keeping production sane.

• Get serious about lead times and version control. If agencies and states take months to align, brands will need multiple versions in flight. That is operationally brutal unless you have a tight workflow.

• Watch the implementation like a hawk. The EO points at expedited rulemaking, but legal process and potential challenges can shape the timeline.

A quick note on Canada

Canada federally legalized recreational cannabis when the Cannabis Act came into force on October 17, 2018.  So this U.S. executive order does not “change Canadian legality.”

But it can still matter to Canadian brands and packaging suppliers because the U.S. market sets tone. If U.S. cannabis packaging trends move toward more mainstream, medical-adjacent presentation, you can see that aesthetic and compliance mindset bleed into North American brand strategy.

My bottom line

Net-net, I see this as positive for print volume and for premium packaging opportunities, with a catch: packaging will get more professional.

Some segments will standardize. Some will commoditize. And some will get even more premium, because premium is how brands protect margin when the market gets crowded.

If you are a printer who can combine compliance discipline with shelf impact, you are in a very good spot.