President Biden and Vice President Harris have ramped up their support for marijuana law reform in recent weeks and months, and it appears unlikely they’ll slow down as we get closer to the November election.
Although former President Trump did not go after legal marijuana states —choosing to take a hands-off approach—his administration took no action to reform marijuana laws, and his first attorney general rescinded a Department of Justice memo protecting state marijuana laws. President Biden and Vice President Harris are already seizing on this, choosing to compare Trump’s inaction with their decision to take a more proactive approach.
The comparisons have already begun, with Vice President Harris saying at an event yesterday that Trump “took marijuana reform backwards”, while noting the accomplishments of the Biden/Harris Administration. The Biden/Harris campaign then sent an e-mail to supporters making note of Harris’ comments. These type of comparisons will only intensify in the coming weeks, with multiple nationwide polls released in recent months showing that around 2/3rds of American voters support legalization, including a majority of Republicans.
Although movement on marijuana law reform under President Biden has been slower than what many proponents would like, he’s taken more action than any former president, by far.
Some of the marijuana-related actions taken by the administration includes:
- President Biden signed the Medical Marijuana and Cannabidiol Research Expansion Act, streamlining and removing barriers for marijuana research. This was the first (and remains the only) standalone marijuana bill to ever be signed into law.
- President Biden issued thousands of federal marijuana pardons.
- Biden ordered the Department of Health and Human Services to conduct a review of marijuana’s scheduling status, leading to a recommendation to the DEA that it be moved to Schedule III. The DEA is currently conducting that review, with the final decision expected prior to the November election.
- Last month President Biden became the first president to ever promote marijuana reform at a State of the Union address.
While President Biden supports decriminalizing marijuana, Vice President Harris recently went further by saying “we need to legalize marijuana“.
It’s worth noting that despite these actions and despite Vice President Harris attacking Trump for his administration rescinding the Cole Memo that protected state marijuana laws, they have not reinstated the memo nor passed a new, similar one.
