Hours after President Joe Biden endorsed Kamala Harris, the leading Democratic candidate in the 2024 presidential race, Americans began scrambling for information about the vice president's positions on a variety of issues, including marijuana legalization. Ta.
Harris' positions on cannabis evolved over her years in public service, becoming more progressive as she rose to federal office.
As vice president, she supported the Biden administration's amnesty for Americans convicted of federal marijuana possession and landmark changes to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous and less addictive drug. . There's also a cannabis variety called Kamala Kush named after her, which Jimmy Kimmel joked about in an interview with Harris last month.
California Democrats have advocated decriminalizing marijuana, but they haven't always been lenient. Harris has been criticized for aggressively prosecuting marijuana-related crimes during her time as California attorney general and San Francisco district attorney, especially in light of racial disparities in sentencing nationwide. Data shows African Americans are more likely to be arrested for marijuana than white people. Harris' softening of her opposition to marijuana appears to have begun when she was a senator in the run-up to the 2020 presidential race. And experts say her evolution could continue if she wins the election as the Democratic nominee.
“During his time in the White House, the vice president has advocated even more forcefully than the president for (ending) cannabis prohibition and for repairing and remediating the harm it has caused, and he has been pragmatic in many ways,” especially in criminal justice. They are leaders on this issue as it relates to reform,” Morgan Fox, political director of NORML, the nation's oldest cannabis legalization advocacy group, told USA TODAY.
Harris called for changes to federal rules regarding marijuana.
In 2022, Biden directed the Department of Health and Human Services to review how marijuana is classified and then recommended that it be reclassified as a less dangerous drug. In March, Harris urged HHS and the Justice Department to speed up reclassification during discussions with rapper Fat Joe and others who were pardoned for marijuana charges.
The Drug Enforcement Administration has classified marijuana as the most dangerous controlled substance for decades, but Harris argued that's incorrect.
“Marijuana is considered as dangerous as heroin and more dangerous than fentanyl, which is absurd, not to mention patently unfair,” Harris said at the event.
Harris again called for a “change in our country's approach to marijuana” at a rally held at 4:20 p.m. on April 20, an unofficial holiday celebrating marijuana. “No one should have to go to jail for smoking marijuana,” she said on social media platform X.
In May, the Justice Department moved to reclassify the drug. This changes marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule III drug under the Controlled Substances Act, marking the biggest shift in marijuana policy by the federal government since it was first decriminalized.
The Justice Department has not yet finalized its decision, and NORML's Fox said it is difficult to know exactly how long the process will take. He said opponents were making a concerted effort to delay the date change.
Schedule I drugs are considered extremely dangerous and addictive and have no medical use. On the other hand, Schedule III drugs (such as Tylenol and anabolic steroids containing codeine) are considered to have a moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence and may be legally prescribed. As a medicine.
Harris introduced a bill to decriminalize marijuana.
Just a week after announcing her presidential bid in January 2019, Harris told the hosts of the radio show “The Breakfast Club” that she was in favor of legalizing marijuana and that she smoked a joint in college. He said that he was
“I smoked it. It was a long time ago, but yeah,” she said of Bill Clinton, who had tried marijuana but didn't like it and didn't smoke it when he was running for president. he said, referring to the statement.
Harris, who has faced criticism from progressives for her tough-on-crime stance on criminal justice, acknowledged that she had “concerns” about marijuana in the past. During the interview, Harris joked about her Jamaican background when asked about her history of marijuana use, prompting criticism from her father, Donald J. Harris, professor emeritus of economics at Stanford University.
“Speaking for myself and my immediate family of Jamaicans, we want to make a firm break from this travesty,” he said in a statement to Kingston-based Jamaica Global Online, according to Politico. “There is,” he said.
Harris, then a junior senator from California, emerged as a front-runner in the crowded 2020 Democratic primary and introduced legislation to decriminalize and tax marijuana at the federal level. The Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act would also result in resentencing or expungement of marijuana convictions and would allocate 50% of the tax revenue generated by the marijuana industry to three trust funds.
“Times have changed. Marijuana should not be a crime,” Harris said when announcing the proposed bill. “We need to start regulating marijuana and expunge marijuana convictions from the records of millions of Americans so they can get on with their lives.”
As a senator, she also co-sponsored the Marijuana Justice Act introduced by Sen. Cory Booker, who also ran for president in 2020.
Harris had a genuine interest in criminal justice reform during her time in the Senate, said Maritza Perez-Medina, federal director of Drug Policy Action, an advocacy group and political partner of the Drug Policy Alliance. “She talked about it, and she didn't just talk about it, she introduced bills and supported bills to reform the criminal justice system. Marijuana is just one part of it, but she's always been an advocate for racial justice. He talked about it from a perspective, and I really appreciated that.'' ”
Harris' marijuana conviction in California
According to the Los Angeles Times, Harris supported the legal use of medical marijuana when she was district attorney in San Francisco, but opposed a 2010 bill to legalize marijuana in California. During her tenure, she oversaw more than 1,900 convictions for weed violations, the Mercury News reported. The report said prosecutors on her staff were convicting people on these charges at a higher rate than under her predecessor, but most defendants were not jailed for low-level marijuana possession.
During Harris' tenure as state attorney general, more than 2,000 people were incarcerated in California prisons on marijuana and hashish-related offenses. Harris, who was seeking re-election to state office in 2014, declined in an interview to comment in any way on the opposition party's support for recreational marijuana legalization at the time.
“Your opponent, Ron Gold, has said he's in favor of legalizing marijuana for recreational purposes. What do you think about that?” KCRA-TV asked Harris.
“Well, I think he's entitled to his opinion,” she replied.
The following year, at the 2015 Democratic State Convention, Harris called for an end to the federal ban on medical marijuana. Kevin Sabet, president of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, said he believes legalization advocates' concerns about Harris' background as a prosecutor are likely overblown.
“I don't think what she was personally targeting was … simple marijuana users,” he said. “I think that's an exaggeration.”
What Harris can do as president
Fox, NORML's political director, said the extraordinary transformation Harris has undergone on marijuana policy “really represents a fundamental level shift in philosophy” that reflects a broader shift in the beliefs of the majority of Americans. said. Nearly 90% of U.S. adults say marijuana should be legal for medical or recreational use, according to a March report from the Pew Research Center.
Foxx said that if Harris were to win the Democratic nomination, she might publicly support canceling the marijuana program, saying it would be a “huge step in the right direction.” . To resolve the stark differences between state and federal law, marijuana must be rescheduled or removed entirely from the Controlled Substances Act list, experts and advocates previously told USA TODAY. . Although marijuana remains illegal under federal law, cannabis is legal to some degree in nearly 40 states and Washington, D.C.
But Sabe said he believes Harris, if elected, will likely “tread carefully” and take a position similar to Biden's. He advocated reform and said he would continue amnesty but opposed full legalization. Sabet, a former White House drug policy adviser to Presidents Obama, Bush and Clinton, said her shift in marijuana policy was a political calculation rather than genuine support for legalization from California Democrats like Gov. Gavin Newsom. He added that it is likely to be driven by. expressed.
“Her relationship is complicated, but I think it's a relationship that's driven more by politics than science these days,” he said.
Perez-Medina of Drug Policy Action believes the catalyst for Harris' replacement is likely a combination of politics and fact-finding, calling her “a really smart politician.”
“It may have taken her longer to get here than we thought, but I think she understands now,” she said. “She understands that, first and foremost, this is a racial justice issue.”
Contributors: Rebecca Morin, Francesca Chambers, Joel Shannon, Joey Garrison, Janine Santucci, Eduardo Cuevas, Michael Collins, USA TODAY. Reuters
