Sen Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is pressing Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—President Donald Trump’s choice to lead the nation’s top health agency—to reiterate his position on marijuana legalization amid the ongoing effort to federally reschedule cannabis.
As the Senate proceeds with confirmation hearings for Trump’s Cabinet picks, Warren sent a 34-page letter to Kennedy on Thursday that lays out a series of questions about his views on a wide range of policy issues, including marijuana, psychedelics and harm reduction.
Kennedy has said multiple times over the past couple years that he backs legalizing cannabis and also certain psychedelic substances to provide people with an alternative treatment option for serious mental health conditions. But as Kennedy prepares to potentially lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Warren wants to get those positions on the record again.
For example, the senator asked Kennedy to say whether he supports the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act and the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act (CAOA)—two Democratic-led congressional bills to enact marijuana legalization. Warren noted that provisions of those measures would support substance misuse treatment.
Warren noted that as a presidential candidate last year, Kennedy said that if elected he “would legalize marijuana and use the tax revenue to fund programs for people seeking treatment pertaining to use of controlled substances.”
In another question, she suggested that Kennedy’s support for legalization means he backs removing cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), but she asked the nominee to weigh in on the Biden administration’s more modest proposal to simply reschedule cannabis.
“While there are some benefits to moving marijuana away from its current placement in Schedule I to the less restrictive Schedule III, it will still remain federally illegal even if the proposed rule is finalized,” the senator said. “Do you agree with the HHS assessment that marijuana should be moved to Schedule III? If not, what specifically would you do differently?”
She also asked him how he felt his “different approach” to marijuana scheduling wouldn’t “run afoul the novel approach claims” of HHS’s approach to the rulemaking, specifically as it concerns “establishing accepted medical use” for cannabis. That seems to be a reference to the fact that the agency under President Joe Biden applied a new standard in its scheduling review that departed from prior analyses, drawing criticism from certain cannabis reform opponents.
Warren further requested that Kennedy expand on his past comments supporting “prescription heroin” and “supervised consumption” as harm reduction measures to help people struggling with opioid addiction. She asked for his “current opinions” about other medications, “such as buprenorphine and methadone, to facilitate and maintain recovery from opioid addiction.”
“Do you support funding for housing options for people who use drugs, including permanent supportive housing?” another question reads.
Warren also briefly touched on Kennedy’s psychedelics policy in the letter, referencing a post he made on X recently that indicated he would pursue an upheaval of FDA as head of the parent agency HHS. In that post, he argued that FDA has suppressed access to psychedelics, as well as other controversial drugs like ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine.
“This presents a conflicting narrative that suggests that you favor ‘independence between public health agencies and the pharmaceutical and food industries’ but also seek to legalize drugs and supplements that lack sound scientific basis,” Warren said. “Yet, between these two ideologies, your position remains unclear.”
While Warren’s comment could be viewed as a suggestion she feels psychedelics lack scientific basis, she came out in support of a Massachusetts psychedelics legalization ballot initiative ahead of last November’s election, so it seems likely she’s referencing other controversial drugs that Kennedy mentioned in his post such as ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine.
“HHS’ programs and services impact the lives of millions of Americans every day,” Warren concluded in the letter. “The agency deserves a strong and capable leader who protects the health of all Americans and provides essential human services.”
Kennedy followed a dizzying path to the Trump administration, entering the 2024 presidential election as a Democratic candidate before switching to independent as he lagged in the polls and then eventually endorsing the GOP nominee. Along that path, he stood out in part for his drug policy platform, which involved legalizing and taxing certain psychedelics in addition to cannabis.
In October, Kennedy specifically criticized the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) over the agency’s “suppression of psychedelics” and a laundry list of other issues that he said amounted to a “war on public health” that would end under the Trump administration.
Meanwhile, a top U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) official recently said it’s “very encouraging” that Kennedy supports psychedelics reform—and he hopes to work with him on the issue if he stays on for the next administration.
Not everyone shares VA Under Secretary for Health Shereef Elnahal’s enthusiasm for Kennedy as the potential HHS secretary, however. Author Michael Pollan, for example, said that Trump’s pick could prove “very dangerous” to the psychedelics movement—even though he is a supporter of reform.
He said the prospective nominee might pursue federal reform in a way that delegitimizes the science behind substances such as psilocybin.
By contrast, Rick Perry—a former governor of Texas who also served in the first Trump administration—recently said the president-elect’s choices for key health policy positions, including Kennedy, are a “great gift” for the psychedelics reform movement, particularly as it concerns access to ibogaine as a treatment option for serious mental health conditions.
Kennedy also shares a pro-reform perspective with other prospective nominees such as his pics for director of national intelligence, former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D/R-HI), and Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) heads Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.
Meanwhile, Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) recently urged FDA to finalize guidance on conducting clinical trials into psychedelics to facilitate research, including investigations focusing on the potential benefits of substances such as MDMA and psilocybin for military veterans.
Image element courtesy of Gage Skidmore.
Sen Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is pressing Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—President Donald Trump’s choice to lead the nation’s top health agency—to reiterate his position on marijuana legalization amid the ongoing effort to federally reschedule cannabis. As the Senate proceeds with confirmation hearings for Trump’s Cabinet picks, Warren sent a 34-page letter to Kennedy on Thursday that Read More
