Access the premium version of this brief with detailed access to a recap of over 200 global updates from December 2025, as well as a repository of over 7100 regulation, market and science papers.
December 2025 has delivered the most significant US federal cannabis policy shift in 50 years. Trump signed an executive order directing Schedule III reclassification, recognising medical use for the first time—yet the order left criminalisation, banking barriers and state-federal conflicts intact. Cannabis equities fell ~27% as investors recalibrated tax and banking expectations against the narrow scope of reform.
Medical markets globally navigated a paradox: tightening access rules collided with accelerating commercial growth. Major markets imposed systematic regulatory squeezes—Germany banned telemedicine prescribing, France delayed reimbursement, Spain restricted dispensing to hospitals—even as import volumes, patient numbers and revenues climbed across the same jurisdictions.
Market fundamentals strengthened beneath the regulatory pressure. Key figures from December 2025 include: