Nearly 50 days ago Vice President Kamala Harris said “We changed federal marijuana policy”. Now, a campaign official gives some insight into what she meant.
(Photo credit: Getty Images).
“We changed federal marijuana policy, because nobody should have to go to jail just for smoking weed”, said Harris on February 9 in a campaign video posted on the social media platform X. Despite the statement causing confusion among proponents of federal marijuana reform, on February 25 a campaign official told us the VP has “no plans” to remove the video. Over a month later and the video remains live, viewed over 435,000 times.
Since publication of the video, the Vice President has been questioned by numerous marijuana reform advocates seeking clarification on what she meant by the statement, given no federal law change has occurred under President Biden. This includes Cannabis Freedom Party (CFP) co-founder Jim Mcmahon saying that VP Harris is “willfully lying to the American public”.
Since the video was published VP Harris has said that marijuana should be rescheduled “as quickly as possible“, and she also recently said “we need to legalize marijuana“, but she has not directly addressed her remarks in the video.
Now, the same campaign official for VP Harris that was mentioned above says “The Administration supported and signed a medical marijuana research act that federally streamlined marijuana research, while also directing a review of marijuana with an eye on rescheduling.”
When asked about whether or not this truly aligns with the statement “we changed federal marijuana policy, because no one should have to go to jail for marijuana”, the official said “That’s what we believe. Marijuana being rescheduled will patently be an even bigger change.”
The official notes that the video has caused “a decent-sized uproar” among marijuana advocates, but the VP remains “reluctant” to issue any sort of retraction or correction.
The Medical Marijuana and Cannabidiol Research Expansion Act was signed by President Biden in late 2022, making it the first ever standalone marijuana bill to be signed into law. Biden also issued a slew of federal marijuana pardons, and he issued an executive order directing the Department of Health and Human Services to conduct a review of marijuana as a Schedule I drug. That review has led to them recommending the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) reschedule marijuana to Schedule III, something the DEA is currently considering.
