Kamala Harris announced Monday that if elected president, she would fully legalize recreational marijuana for adults at the federal level, the first time a presidential candidate has taken such an ambiguous position on ending marijuana prohibition.
As part of his pledge, he said he would take steps to ensure that Black men, disproportionately incarcerated and disenfranchised by the war on drugs, benefit from the industry.
Vince Slivoski, a partner at cannabis law firm Harris and Slivoski, said, “I'm glad to see that because I like messaging,” but added, “When you get to the office you can't just snap your fingers and do it… This isn't It is something that can be done through executive orders.
Griffen Thorne, a cannabis lawyer, called the promise “clearly political” because the announcement came three weeks before the election. Thorne and other experts suspected that Harris' campaign was trying to increase the number of black voters, particularly blacks who are currently less likely to support Harris than Biden. New York Times poll.
“Federal legalization of marijuana is good policy and supporting it is a smart strategy, not just among Black voters, but among all Americans,” said Kate Baker, director of legislative regulation at the Drug Markets and Policy Initiative.
“As a Black woman and the first person to regulate medical and adult-use marijuana, I understand the challenges of creating legal marijuana markets that work for Black men. I also recognize the profound harms of federal prohibition.
Packer added that it makes sense that Harris' plan would include provisions that remove barriers for Black men in cannabis and other fields.
Significantly, this statement distinguishes Harris from both his opponent and his predecessor. While Trump and Biden now support marijuana legalization, Harris has been vocal that ending prohibition is a priority.
During his administration, Biden made several promises on marijuana, including removing those with criminal records and making marijuana eligible for FDA approval. The DEA has made progress on rescheduling, but will not carry it out before the election.
And Biden only exonerated a small fraction of cannabis-related convictions during his administration.
“It was a little embarrassing because it had all the things it promised on its website,” Slivoski said.
Meanwhile, Trump has changed his tune on marijuana this election season, including supporting Florida's upcoming election. A ballot initiative that would legalize recreational marijuana. But the decisions he made during his presidency led to lingering distrust among his defenders.
“One of the first things he did was appoint drug lord Jeff Sessions as his attorney general,” Slivoski said, “and the industry was really nervous for at least the first two years of the Trump administration,” he explained.
Harris differentiates herself from Trump by calling for social equity provisions that help Black men benefit from the industry. But making such arrangements is complicated. Thorne noted that while Democrats controlled both chambers of Congress during the Biden administration, they were unable to successfully pass marijuana policy reform, largely due to disagreements over whether social equity provisions went far enough.
“They let the right be the enemy of the good,” Thorne said.
Few Republicans in Congress now support marijuana reform, Thorne says, adding that they are less likely to vote for bills with many social equity provisions.
Slivoski recommends looking and trying to understand what kind of agreements the law might support if Harris is elected president.
Harris co-sponsored the bill when it was introduced in Congress in 2019. It would require the Bureau of Labor Statistics to track demographic information on cannabis business owners and employees and create a trust fund dedicated to initiatives to help communities affected by the war. about medications.
State-level laws have attempted similar initiatives, but have largely failed: the state's legal marijuana industry is still dominated by wealthy white men.
“Disparities in the cannabis industry are due to banking restrictions and the high cost of entering the market,” said Catherine Neal Harris, a drug policy researcher at Rice University. “Individuals need to have money at the beginning of the process, or they need wealthy investors, and white men tend to be more of both.”
Social equity initiatives have not fully addressed barriers to entry into the industry and have sometimes funded those with dubious connections to the marginalized communities they claim to serve. Policy.
Within the industry, there have been mixed reactions to Harris' promise.
“I'm not surprised to see another politician hear calls for federal marijuana legalization in hopes of getting a few extra votes in an election year. It’s not the first time, but hopefully it won’t be the last,” said Caleb Counts, CEO of Connected. Cannabis. “This industry has often been associated with broken promises.”
On the other hand, Brian Gerber, CEO of the rolling paper company Hara Supply, said the news is encouraging because Harris' support for marijuana reform predates her presidential bid.
“With Harris' position clear, it appears she hopes to sign a large-scale bill or related legislation, such as access to medical marijuana for veterans, social justice initiatives and professional banking reforms,” Gerber said. “Of course, this is only possible if Congress gets a bill to the president's desk.”
