For the first time as sitting Vice President, Kamala Harris says marijuana should be legalized nationwide. The comments came soon after she called on marijuana to be rescheduled “as quickly as possible.”
“We need to legalize marijuana”, Harris said in a recent meeting with marijuana pardon recipients. Although this comment was said during a closed-door meeting, an official working for VP Harris confirmed with us that she did in fact make this comment.
Speaking on rescheduling efforts, Harris recently said “I cannot emphasize enough that they [the DEA] need to get to it as quickly as possible. We need to have a resolution based on their findings and their assessment. This issue is stark when one considers the fact that on the schedule currently, marijuana is considered as dangerous as heroin ― as dangerous as heroin ― and more dangerous than fentanyl, which is absurd, not to mention patently unfair.”
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is currently conducting a review on marijuana’s scheduling status. The review was prompted by the Department of Health and Human Services, which recommended to the DEA in August that marijuana be moved to Schedule III after a year-long analysis.
Because of this, Vice President Harris calling for marijuana to be rescheduled swiftly is not entirely surprising. Her calling for marijuana to be legalized prior to a reschedule, however, will likely be seen by many as more surprising.
A move to Schedule III would legalize marijuana for prescription use nationwide, while providing medical marijuana patients with a bevy of federal protections and rights. Legalizing marijuana mationwide would essentially put it in the same realm as alcohol or tobacco products.
Last month in a campaign video on the social media platform X, Harris said “We changed federal marijuana policy, because nobody should have to go to jail just for smoking weed”. The video, which has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times, has caused confusion among marijuana reformists, given the Biden / Harris Administration has not, in fact, changed federal marijuana policy. At least not yet.
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