A Democratic senator says marijuana reform is one “huge” example of an issue that could move voters during the election this November but that so far hasn’t been meaningfully addressed on the campaign trail by his party’s presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris. Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump’s campaign is continuing to attack on Harris’s cannabis prosecutorial record in California.
Taking questions on X on Saturday, Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) was asked what he considers to be “issues that aren’t being talked about could move voters.”
“I think cannabis is a huge one that can move votes,” he replied.
To the senator’s point, a series of recent polls found that strong majorities of likely voters in five key battleground states—Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin—back federal marijuana legalization and other reforms such as allowing banks to work with state-legal cannabis businesses.
Since becoming the nominee after President Joe Biden bowed out in July, however, Harris has curiously declined to embrace the issue, despite having privately called for legalization as recently as March and sponsoring a bill to end prohibition during her time in the Senate.
Instead, it’s been Trump, the GOP nominee, who’s publicly promoted pro-reform policies such as federal rescheduling and industry banking access, while announcing support for a Florida marijuana legalization initiative that will be on the state’s November ballot.
At the same time that Trump is adopting marijuana reform policies as the election approaches, his campaign is also leveraging the moment to challenge Harris’s cannabis record as a California prosecutor. Janiyah Thomas, the Trump campaign’s Black media director, misleadingly accused Harris of sentencing “thousands of Black men for non-violent marijuana use” in a recent interview with Politico, for example.
Trump made similar claims in July, but the full record of her time in office is more nuanced. While the characterization of her record is exaggerated, it’s nonetheless notable in the sense that the GOP nominee implied that he disagrees with criminalizing people over marijuana and is aiming to reinforce the idea that Harris played a role in racially disproportionate mass incarceration.
Thomas also claimed that, in contrast with Harris, “President Trump agrees that Americans should not be permanently imprisoned for using a substance that is now legal in multiple states.”
Not everyone is convinced that Trump sincerely supports the cannabis reform policies he’s started promoting, with bipartisan lawmakers such as Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Andy Harris (R-MD) chalking the former president’s recent cannabis pivot a campaign ploy to attract voters, for example.
“Look at his record,” Rep. Steven Horsford (D-NV), chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, told Politico, pointing out that while Trump recently came out in favor of federal marijuana rescheduling, his administration didn’t move to reclassify it while he was in office. The congressman also said he doesn’t think Trump’s embrace of the issue will move the needle with Black voters who could prove critical to the election outcome.
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), who is sponsoring a bill to federally legalize cannabis, sees it differently.
“For any candidate that wants to be the responsible common sense candidate that can appeal to people across the divide, this is an easy issue to pick up,” she told Politico. The congresswoman previously said that, while she had hoped Trump would back the Biden administration’s rescheduling move, she also said part of the reason Republicans in Congress have declined to embrace marijuana policy change is because they’re “afraid of it.”
Harris’s campaign has similarly accused Trump of lying about his support for marijuana reform, stating that his “blatant pandering” runs counter to his administration’s record on cannabis.
While the campaign has been willing to call out Trump on his marijuana platform, however, it has so far declined to detail the Democratic nominee’s own position. Advocates have also taken notice that a new, long-awaited issues page launched by the Harris campaign omits any mention of marijuana policy reform despite her record promoting comprehensive legalization.
The prior Biden-Harris campaign had also made several prior attempts to contrast the administration’s marijuana reform actions with those of the Trump administration, emphasizing the role that then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions played in rescinding the cannabis enforcement guidance.
Following Trump’s announcement of support for the Florida cannabis legalization ballot measure, the campaign for Harris has worked to remind voters that while in office, the former president “took marijuana reform backwards.”
In a memo from a senior campaign spokesperson, the Harris campaign accused Trump of “brazen flip flops” on cannabis. The Democratic campaign says it’s one of the Republican former president’s “several bewildering ‘policy proposals’ that deserve real scrutiny.”
“On issue after issue, Trump is saying one thing after having done another,” the memo says. “For example: As a candidate in 2024, he suggests he is for decriminalizing marijuana – but as President, his own Justice Department cracked down on marijuana offenses.”
Trump’s latest marijuana post follows up on one he made last month in which he indicated—but did not explicitly say—he supported Amendment 3 in Florida. The earlier comments predicted that Florida voters would approve the cannabis measure and generally discussed the benefits of legalization, but left some observers wanting more clarity on the former president’s position on the specific state initiative.
Trump also recently discussed the medical benefits of cannabis and said legalization would be “very good” for Florida in an interview with Lex Fridman.
Last month at a press conference, Trump told a reporter that he’s starting to “agree a lot more” that people should not be criminalized over marijuana given that it’s “being legalized all over the country”—adding that he would “fairly soon” reveal his position on the Florida ballot measure.
But some observers see a key opportunity with both major party nominees aligned on the need for cannabis reform for the first time.
In an interview with Marijuana Moment last week, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) said Trump’s recent remarks “shows that now everybody agrees—even Donald Trump.”
The Congressional Cannabis Caucus co-chair said in a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) on Monday that the former president’s shift on the issue—as well as recently unearthed comments from former President Richard Nixon conceding that marijuana is “not particularly dangerous”—should be followed up with floor votes on cannabis reform legislation.
Meanwhile, longtime ally and GOP political operative Roger Stone, who is also a Florida resident and supports the legalization proposal, separately told Marijuana Moment that if Trump did ultimately endorse the measure it would “guarantee victory.”
Meanwhile, Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) separately told Marijuana Moment in a recent interview that if Trump is serious about his recently stated support for the Secure and Fair Enforcement Regulation (SAFER) Banking Act, he needs to “bring us some Republican senators” to advance it through the chamber.
Hickenlooper, as well as Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN), weighed in on the cannabis banking issue in interviews last week, though none were aware at the time that Trump had endorsed the policy change days earlier.
Brown said that “we don’t have enough Republicans, we don’t think,” to secure the passage of the SAFER Banking Act. That point has previously been contested, however, with the bill’s lead Republican sponsor Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) insisting that the votes are there to move the measure along.
Hickenlooper, meanwhile, said that while he hadn’t been appraised on the latest Trump remarks on cannabis banking, he’s skeptical about how serious the former president is in the position, commenting that “it might change by tomorrow” given his proclivity for rapidly taking on opposite sides of various issues.
He added that the SAFER Banking Act is “going through this process,” but he also said the Biden administration’s push to federally reschedule cannabis represents “a major step forward” that could help grease the wheels on marijuana banking reform.
“I think rescheduling is going to get SAFE Banking through the Senate,” the senator said. “Donald Trump can say whatever he wants, but unless you bring us some Republican senators, we’re not going to get SAFE Banking.”
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) released a report last month explaining that federal marijuana rescheduling is “unlikely” to improve banking access for state-legal cannabis businesses, But Blumenauer similarly argued that the reclassification move, when it is enacted, could have a political effect that spurs action on the separate marijuana banking legislation.
It should also be noted that the proposed rescheduling action isn’t guaranteed. Following a public comment period, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) last month announced that it has scheduled an administrative hearing in December to gain additional input before potentially finalizing the rule. It’s possible that rulemaking could extend into January, meaning there’s a chance that the next presidential administration could influence the final outcome.
Photo courtesy of Brian Shamblen.
A Democratic senator says marijuana reform is one “huge” example of an issue that could move voters during the election this November but that so far hasn’t been meaningfully addressed on the campaign trail by his party’s presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris. Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump’s campaign is continuing to attack on Harris’s Read More