In a U-turn from Donald Trump’s first term in the White House, the president-elect’s pick for attorney general is a friend of pro-cannabis policies.
U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., whom Trump nominated on Nov. 13 as the next head of the Department of Justice (DOJ), has a legislative record of supporting federal cannabis legalization, loosening restrictions on cultivating cannabis for research and providing safe banking for the industry.
This support represents a 180-degree political shift compared to Trump’s previous attorneys general: Jeff Sessions and William Barr (more on this below).
“Matt is a deeply gifted and tenacious attorney, trained at the William & Mary College of Law, who has distinguished himself in Congress through his focus on achieving desperately needed reform at the Department of Justice,” Trump said Wednesday on Truth Social. “Few issues in America are more important than ending the partisan Weaponization of our Justice System. Matt will end Weaponized Government, protect our Borders, dismantle Criminal Organizations and restore Americans’ badly-shattered Faith and Confidence in the Justice Department.”
As outgoing President Joe Biden’s administration continues its current cannabis rescheduling process—with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) not scheduled to begin testimonies for an administrative law judge hearing until next year—many cannabis industry stakeholders have speculated what a changing of the guards could mean for that process.
Under current Attorney General Merrick Garland, the DOJ issued a notice of proposed rulemaking on May 21 to transfer cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). While the DEA holds the authority to issue a final rule after the administrative law judge hearing, it operates under the DOJ umbrella.
Should the Senate confirm Gaetz as Trump’s pick to be the next attorney general, the Florida congressman would likely use his new position to not only further this incremental reform effort but also to delist cannabis from the CSA altogether if the opportunity presents itself.
“Rep. Matt Gaetz is one of the most pro-cannabis Republicans on Capitol Hill,” David Culver, U.S. Cannabis Council senior vice president for public affairs, said in a press release. “By tapping him to serve as the nation’s top law enforcement officer, President-elect Trump is signaling his commitment to make good on his campaign promises around cannabis reform.”
RELATED: Trump Signals Support for Federal Cannabis Rescheduling, Banking Reform
Gaetz’s support for cannabis reform isn’t new. In 2017, he introduced bipartisan legislation with U.S. Rep. Darren Soto, D-Fla., to reclassify cannabis from a Schedule I to Schedule III substance under the CSA. That legislation also aimed to make it easier for patients and medical cannabis researchers to access the plant.
“This drug should not be in the same category as heroin and LSD, and we do not need to continue with a policy that turns thousands of young people into felons every year,” Gaetz said in a 2017 press release. “Nor do we need to punish the millions of people who are sick and seeking medical help—from pain, from muscle wasting, from chemotherapy-induced nausea.”
More recently, Gaetz has supported fully descheduling cannabis by removing it from the CSA entirely.
In 2022, Gaetz was the lone Republican in the House to co-sponsor New York Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler’s Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act, legislation that aimed to legalize cannabis federally. The House passed the MORE Act in 2022 with Gaetz, Floria Rep. Brian Mast and California Rep. Tom McClintock as the only Republicans crossing party lines to support the bill.
Perhaps most noteworthy, Gaetz introduced the bipartisan STATES Act—short for Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States Act—in 2019 with former Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., and Reps. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., Dave Joyce, R-Ohio, Barbara Lee, D-Calif., and Joe Neguse, D-Colo.
The STATES Act, which remains in play this Congress, would prevent federal interference in state-legal cannabis programs, whether for medical or adult-use purposes, among other provisions.
“I represent the right edge of the cannabis reform movement,” Gaetz said at a press conference in 2019. “I wrote Florida’s first two medical marijuana laws, and I am convinced that at the state level, we have folks who are more nimble, more creative, and more capable of meeting the needs of our citizens than the morass we find far too frequently in Washington.”
Gaetz’s track record is a promising sign for state-licensed cannabis operators and their partners who still conduct business in a federally illicit landscape.
In 2013, President Barack Obama’s Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole issued guidance on cannabis enforcement, known as the Cole Memo, directing the DOJ not to prosecute state-legal cannabis businesses and the banks that serve them—taking a hands-off approach.
However, Trump’s former attorney general, Jeff Sessions, took a different approach when he rescinded that Obama-era policy in 2018.
“It is the mission of the Department of Justice to enforce the laws of the United States, and the previous issuance of guidance undermines the rule of law and the ability of our local, state, tribal, and federal law enforcement partners to carry out this mission,” Sessions said in a 2018 statement. “Therefore, today’s memo on federal marijuana enforcement simply directs all U.S. attorneys to use previously established prosecutorial principles that provide them all the necessary tools to disrupt criminal organizations, tackle the growing drug crisis, and thwart violent crime across our country.”
During his 20 years as a U.S. senator representing Alabama, Sessions also took the position that “marijuana is not the kind of thing that ought to be legalized” or minimized because it’s dangerous and “good people don’t smoke marijuana.”
In addition, William Barr, who served as Trump’s attorney general from 2019-2020, also opposed cannabis reform, saying during his confirmation hearing in 2019 that he would “still favor one uniform federal rule against marijuana.” While Barr indicated he would not go after state-legal companies that had previously relied on the Cole Memo, he said he supported a federal law that prohibits cannabis everywhere.
But this tone will likely change in Trump’s next administration following his campaign signal in September that he’d support federal cannabis rescheduling and banking reform if elected to a second term.
“As President, we will continue to focus on research to unlock the medical uses of marijuana to a Schedule 3 drug, and work with Congress to pass common sense laws, including safe banking for state authorized companies, and supporting states rights to pass marijuana laws, like in Florida, that work so well for their citizens,” Trump wrote on Truth Social two months ago.
While cannabis banking legislation, such as the Secure and Fair Enforcement Regulation (SAFER) Banking Act, faces an uphill battle next Congress with Republicans taking control of the Senate—specifically with anti-cannabis Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., elected as the next Majority Leader—Gaetz has also taken a pro-reform stance in the banking arena.
In September 2019, Gaetz voted in favor of the SAFE Banking Act that the U.S. House passed with a 321-103 majority. Gaetz again voted in support of the SAFE Banking Act in April 2021, when the U.S. House passed the legislation in a 321-101 vote. Both times, the Senate failed to act.
While Gaetz’s cannabis stance won’t necessarily move the reform needle in Congress as a nominee for Trump’s cabinet, his pending position will carry weight in the executive branch.
“We’ve said from the outset that the cannabis community has good reason to be optimistic about a second Trump administration,” Culver said in the USCC release. “Today’s attorney general announcement, along with other recent staffing moves, give us hope for the next phase of federal cannabis reform, including passing the SAFE Banking Act and finalizing the reclassification of cannabis to Schedule III.”
Matt Gaetz has long supported cannabis reform during his time in the U.S. House, including his position that cannabis should be decontrolled. Read More
