As the 2024 U.S. presidential election approaches, cannabis reform has emerged as a key issue, with candidates presenting their views on legalization, decriminalization, and federal oversight.
Candidates who support federal legalization could pave the way for nationwide policy changes, including a potential rescheduling of Cannabis from Schedule 1 to Schedule 3. These policy changes are significant, as they have the potential to end the conflict between federal and state regulations. This piece will examine the major Democrat and Republican candidates, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump respectively, and their views on cannabis legalization. Understanding the candidates’ shifting perspectives on cannabis helps shed light on their previous positions and the potential factors driving current support for cannabis reform.
Democratic Party
Kamala Haris- Cannabis laws as Attorney General
Between 2011 and 2017, Kamala served as California Attorney General and maintained a cautious approach to cannabis reform. She did not actively promote legalization and, at times, upheld the state's existing laws, which still prohibited recreational cannabis use. During her re-election campaign for Attorney General in 2014, when asked about her Republican opponent’s pro-legalization stance, Kamala openly laughed about the topic. It was clear that she was not supportive of legalization at the time and was more concerned with enforcing current laws, rather than advocating for reform.
Often, she was cited with an eagerness to imprison people for cannabis related offences. In fact, she oversaw 1956 misdemeanor and felony convictions related to marijuana possession, cultivation, or sale, although some did not result in jail time.
She did support the decriminalization of cannabis, reinforcing substitutes to incarceration for non-violent drug offenders, such as treatment programs. Later, her views on cannabis reform changed when she became U.S. Senator, advocating for legalization and reform. To date, as Vice President, she has fully supported Joe Biden’s administration’s goal to reclassify cannabis to a Schedule 3 substance.
Kamala Harris and Tim Walz- The Ultimate Cannabis Reform Duo?
Kamala selected Minnesota Governor, Tim Walz, as her running mate for her presidential campaign. Tim has been a vocal supporter of cannabis reform, which is evident from his past actions which include signing a 2023 law that legalized recreational cannabis use in Minnesota and clearing low-level cannabis convictions. Many of his actions have been applauded by pro-cannabis activists, for his desire to focus on social equity and the inclusion of marginalized groups in his legalization efforts. In addition, he has taken part in co-sponsoring legislation on hemp and CBD regulation, while advocating for medical cannabis research, particularly in relation to veterans.
Vice President Kamala Harris introduced a national plan for cannabis legalization as part of her presidential campaign. Her proposal focuses on legalizing adult recreational cannabis at the federal level, with part of the plan aimed at addressing racial inequalities in current laws, specifically to benefit black Americans who were negatively impacted by past enforcement. Many experts have viewed the promise being politically incentivised, being made only three weeks before the election, perhaps to target black male voters who would not have supported her candidacy in the upcoming election.
However, her shifting stance reflects the increasing public and political backing for cannabis reform at both the state and federal levels which has led many to believe that together, Tim and Kamala are said to lead a monumental movement towards cannabis reform.
Republican Party
Donald Trump- Cannabis laws as former President
Throughout his term serving as President of the United States, from 2017-2021, Trump maintained a complicated and inconsistent position on the topic of cannabis laws. Although he remained adamant on allowing individual states to decide on legalization, he did not actively promote federal legalization or decriminalization during his presidency.
When in power, Trump frequently endorsed the notion that individual states should determine their own cannabis policies, with minimal federal involvement. Yet, in 2018, the U.S. Justice Department revoked an Obama-era policy, known as the Cole Memorandum. This policy was implemented to recommend that federal prosecutors refrain from targeting cannabis businesses in states where cannabis had been legalized. This ultimately gave federal prosecutors more leeway to pursue criminal charges, encouraging them to bring forward cannabis related cases.
On several occasions, Trump expressed support for medical cannabis acknowledging that it helped those suffering from medical conditions and varying illnesses. Yet, he also included signing statements with certain government spending laws that allowed him to ignore a rule that would prohibit the Justice Department from interfering with medical cannabis programs that were legal in certain states. Even with his expressed support for medical cannabis, if he chose to go against those programs, he was able to.
In addition, more controversy followed when he claimed he would protect states that had legalized cannabis from federal interference, yet no legislation was enacted for this purpose during his time. He did, however, sign the Hemp Farming Act of 2018 which legalized industrial hemp with a tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) concentration of less than 0.3%. To add to these inconsistencies, in 2019, the Department of Homeland’s Security’s U.S Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) declared that cannabis use, or working in the cannabis industry, even in states where it was legal, could ban immigrants from obtaining an American citizenship. . Evidently, Trump’s administration maintained a strict approach to drug trafficking, reaffirming the view that cannabis remained illegal at the federal level, and this took precedence over state law.
Donald Trump and JD Vance- The end to Cannabis Reform?
Trump selected James David Vance as his running mate, the Ohio senator. Recreational cannabis was legalized in the state in November of 2023, when voters passed Issue 2, a ballot initiative to legalize adult-use cannabis. Although the Ohio Republican Party strongly disagreed with initiative, Vance did not fully endorse or reject it. His lack of commentary on the matter suggested it was not a decision he supported, yet he agreed that the issue was to be decided by the voters of the state. Recently, Trump has expressed strong support for cannabis reform, endorsing a Florida ballot initiative to legalize cannabis, and has been vocal about advocating for a federal rescheduling. . This change is significant and marks a shift in his position on the topic, contrasting his earlier anti-drug viewpoint. Despite the fact he does not fully endorse cannabis’ federal decriminalization, he is on board with reclassifying the substance to Schedule 3 and supports banking services for cannabis businesses. While Trump’s stance on cannabis has fluctuated, Vance’s conservative view raises uncertainties about where cannabis reform is headed with a potential Trump-Vance administration.
What happens next?
A decision on whether to reclassify cannabis as a less harmful drug in the United States has been pushed back until after the November presidential election. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has set a hearing on December 2nd to consider the rescheduling, which if successfully rescheduled, will recognize cannabis for its medical uses with a reduced risk of abuse.
Although both parties hold different stances on how they will approach key issues in the United States, it is clear that they both support rescheduling cannabis to a Schedule 3 substance, with Kamala in support of full legalization, which is positive news for federal cannabis reform. Since cannabis has become more widely accepted across the nation, both recreationally and medically, the candidates’ positions on cannabis reform can inevitably sway voters and hold tremendous value.
(Giulia Caracciolo is a second-year law student and summer student for CansultEd. CansultEd is an alternative dispute resolution company that operates exclusively in the US cannabis space.)