Now that she's the new front runner against Donald Trump, Vice President Harris' policy positions, ... [+]
With U.S. President Joe Biden stepping aside for the presidential race and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris, her potential candidacy for the 2024 election against Donald Trump brings attention to her stance on multiple issues, including marijuana.
Following Joe Biden’s announcement on Sunday that he will not seek re-election, Democrats are rapidly strategizing to maintain control of the presidency. In the hours after his announcement, several Democrats endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, propelling her to the forefront of potential nominees, accompanied by a surge in donations.
About 4,000 Democratic delegates will convene in Chicago from August 19 to 22 to select the party’s nominee. While many are pledged to Biden from this year’s primaries, he cannot directly choose the nominee. Harris requires the support of 1,969 of the 3,936 delegates to secure the nomination at the August convention.
Harris’ Evolving Attitude Toward Cannabis
While marijuana may not be a central issue in this presidential campaign, the industry is at a turning point, as Biden has initiated a review to reschedule marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act. This would ease the tax burden on businesses and place marijuana in a category with less dangerous substances.
Therefore, understanding Harris’s evolving stance on marijuana helps clarify her past position and the reasons behind her current support for marijuana reform, as well as what we can expect from her in a potential presidential campaign.
While Harris opposed a 2010 California ballot initiative to legalize marijuana, by 2015, she called for an end to the federal ban on medical marijuana during the Democratic State Convention. However, when Californians voted to legalize recreational marijuana in 2016, then-Attorney General Harris did not take a stance.
During her tenure as district attorney in San Francisco, over 1,900 individuals were convicted for cannabis offenses. Nevertheless, some reports indicate that the majority of those apprehended for minor possession did not face incarceration. Only a few individuals were imprisoned for cannabis-related crimes under Harris’ administration.
Harris’ shift toward supporting marijuana legalization coincided with a change in her professional role. This evolution in her stance could be due to various factors, such as a growing recognition of the need for legalization or an adaptation to the increasing public support for marijuana legalization nationwide.
Brian Vicente, founder of the cannabis law firm Vicente LLP, explained that she has been very active in trying to reform marijuana laws, co-sponsoring several bills.
“Harris frequently speaks about the racial disparity in marijuana law enforcement and indicates her readiness to push forward with full-scale legalization,” he said.
In fact, while initially not a cannabis reform advocate, Harris has recently changed her stance, actively supporting legalization and co-sponsoring several proposed reforms in the last few years, such as the SAFE Banking Act, the Marijuana Justice Act and the MORE Act.
In 2019, during an interview with The Breakfast Club, Harris expressed her support for cannabis legalization and mentioned she had smoked cannabis in college.
CNN reported in 2019 that in her book released that year, Harris advocated for marijuana legalization and the expungement of nonviolent marijuana-related offenses.
What To Expect From A Harris Campaign
With Biden’s recent review of marijuana rescheduling, Harris has urged the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Justice to reclassify marijuana as less dangerous than heroin, calling the current classification “absurd and unfair.”
In March, Kamala Harris stated, “Nobody should have to go to jail for smoking weed,” during a discussion with rapper Fat Joe and others who had been pardoned for marijuana convictions. She emphasized that “far too many people have been jailed for simple marijuana possession.”
Although Harris initially lacked a strong pro-reform stance on cannabis, she has since shifted her position, publicly supporting legalization, sharing her own cannabis experiences and co-sponsoring bills to aid the cannabis industry and address the war on drugs. If she runs for president, it’s expected she will maintain this stance, given the majority of Americans support federal marijuana legalization.
Morgan Fox, political director at NORML, stated that if VP Harris becomes President, he expects her to continue supporting the marijuana schedule review if it is not completed by the end of President Biden’s term.
“Harris, unlike Biden, has publicly stated that cannabis should be removed from the Controlled Substances Act entirely, and has sponsored legislation to do so while in Congress. Her evolution from tough-on-cannabis prosecutor to leading proponent of ending prohibition and repairing the associated harms has been stark but is similar to that of the American public, he said, adding that she would likely encourage the DEA and Congress to resolve the conflict between state and federal marijuana laws by descheduling marijuana and regulating it to support justice, opportunity, and public health.
Joshua Horn, Co-Chair of Cannabis Law Practice at Fox Rothschild LLP, said that Harris’ position on cannabis has thawed since she prosecuted cannabis cases.
“The inflection point will be when she is asked specifically for her position to reschedule cannabis and expect she will come out more definitively to support it considering President Biden supported doing so, pardoned those in Federal prison for nonviolent cannabis crimes, and advocated for state pardons," he said.
