Harris endorses legalization for the first time on the campaign trail

HARRIS VS. TRUMP
Kamala endorses legalization

What happened: After Donald Trump laid out his pro-cannabis reform position last month, the industry — and perhaps, many voters — were waiting on Kamala Harris.

Yesterday, she endorsed legalization on All The Smoke, a podcast hosted by two former NBA players, for the first time on the campaign trail.

What she’s saying: “I just feel strongly people should not be going to jail for smoking weed,” Harris said. “And we know historically what that has meant and who has gone to jail.”

“We need to legalize it, and stop criminalizing this behavior. And actually, this is not a new position for me. I have felt for a long time that we need to legalize it.”

Zoom in: We now have two presidential candidates who support cannabis reform for the first time in US history. Let that sink in for a second. 

But Trump’s position on reform is a departure from how his administration handled the issue while in office. His first attorney general, Jeff Sessions, rescinded federal protections for states that chose to legalize cannabis.

Harris, on the other hand, has supported reform since she was in the Senate — introducing a bill to federally decriminalize cannabis in 2019 — but her campaign has not yet come out with a comprehensive policy position. That’s also a change from her stance as district attorney in San Francisco, where she prosecuted cannabis-related cases. 

And indicating support for legalization does not mean that her campaign has thought through the intricacies of how to actually implement that from the Executive Branch. Reform will always be stronger coming from Congress, especially in a post-Chevron world. 

The Trump campaign’s position is more fleshed out. It reads like an industry wish-list, which may come with its own risks for public health as scientists warned last week, while Harris, like other pro-reform Democrats, is approaching the issue from a criminal justice perspective. 

The industry take: “This is the first time as a presidential candidate that Harris has come out in support of cannabis legalization, officially making it the first time ever that candidates for both major political parties support cannabis reform, and it makes sense – polling shows it’s a popular issue and could be a deciding factor in swing states,” the US Cannabis Council, an industry trade group, said in a statement. 

Why it matters: No matter who is in the Oval Office come next year, it’s likely that some federal cannabis reform will happen. Neither candidate will fight rescheduling during the upcoming December 2 hearing, though well-funded opposition remains — including from another former Trump attorney general, Bill Barr. 

But what that reform looks like could be very different, depending on whether Trump or Harris wins. Trump has said he’ll support rescheduling cannabis to the less restrictive Schedule III — along with banking protection — while Harris is now advocating for full legalization.

But as the old adage goes, all policy is personnel. We’ll wait to see who Trump or Harris appoints as attorney general, and whether that will signal to the industry even more openness to reform. 

And whether you think a potential President Trump or President Harris will be better for the industry probably has more to do with your political beliefs than a real objective view. We don’t yet have enough information from either campaign. 

Either way, we’ll have a president that is pro-reform no matter who wins. That’s a big deal. 

And more: The Trump campaign highlighted Sen. JD Vance’s opposition to cannabis reform as a key risk for his favorability with moderate voters, according to a leaked document. 

- JB

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