The first major international gathering since US Schedule III rescheduling brings more than 1,500 senior delegates to The Barbican on 26 and 27 May 2026.
In April 2026, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche signed the order to reclassify cannabis in the U.S. from Schedule I to Schedule III. By moving cannabis to Schedule III, US federal policy now formally recognises its medical benefits for the first time.
That brings the US far closer to its European counterparts. The legal mechanism behind the rescheduling order, a provision of the Controlled Substances Act designed to bring US drug law into compliance with the 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, is the same international framework that governs medical cannabis regulation across Europe.
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What that convergence means for operators, investors, regulators and patients on both sides of the Atlantic is the conversation the global cannabis industry now has to have. It is the one that takes place in two weeks‘ time at Cannabis Europa London 2026.
Cannabis Europa returns to The Barbican on 26 and 27 May 2026. Hosted by Prohibition Partners, it brings together more than 70 speakers and over 1,500 senior delegates from upwards of 40 countries to debate the next phase of a market that, in Europe alone, is already worth more than US$1.8 billion and growing fast. This year’s edition is the first chance for industry stakeholders to examine what comes next now that the biggest shift in cannabis policy in half a century is in place.
The commercial implications are immediate. European valuations are moving fast as institutional capital returns to the sector, and Schedule III is at the same time rewriting the US tax picture. Cross-border deal activity is the natural consequence, and Cannabis Europa is where many of those introductions are made.
Europe’s import-led market is meanwhile under pressure to scale reliable, EU-GMP-grade supply. North American producers with the right credentials are well placed to participate, provided they can move at the pace European buyers now expect. As the US federal framework matures, alignment with European medical regimes, or divergence from them, will decide which businesses scale internationally and which do not.
For US and Canadian companies in particular, two days at The Barbican replace months of cold outreach. Few rooms outside North America bring this density of European operators, regulators and capital into one place.
The two-day programme tackles those questions head on. A fireside discussion, ‚The View from the White House: Rescheduling in the US‘, includes Saphira Galoob of the US Cannabis Roundtable and Bryan Lanza, formerly of the Trump transition team. The session asks, in unfiltered terms, what rescheduling actually changes, what it does not, and what continued uncertainty means for international stakeholders watching from abroad.
A second main-stage panel, ‚Schedule III and Beyond: What a Maturing US Framework Means for Europe‘, will be led by David Ruskin of Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton, with further speakers to be announced. It examines the rescheduling process from a European vantage point, and asks what genuine regulatory convergence, or divergence, means for businesses operating across borders.
A dedicated session on UN drug policy and international law will, in turn, examine whether the incremental progress of recent years is sufficient, or whether genuine global patient access now demands a more ambitious rethink of cannabis in international law.
Cannabis Europa London 2026 takes place on 26 and 27 May 2026 at The Barbican, London. The full agenda and delegate registration are available at Cannabis Europa.
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