With reports that President Biden is considering whether to remain in the race, increased attention has been directed towards Vice President Kamala Harris, who is the most likely candidate to replace him at the top of the ticket.
President Biden has been the most consequential president in U.S. history regarding marijuana law reform. For example, he pardoned thousands of federal marijuana offenders, initiated the review that led to the DEA recommending marijuana be rescheduled, and in 2022 he became the first president to sign a standalone marijuana bill into law with the Medical Marijuana and Cannabidiol Research Expansion Act. However, Biden has also refused to support the legalization of marijuana, putting him at odds with the majority of his own party.
Vice President Kamala Harris has been a strong supporter of Biden’s moves to reschedule marijuana and pardon offenders. Following the DEA’s announcement, she said, “Currently, marijuana is classified on the same level as heroin and more dangerous than fentanyl. We are finally changing that. I want to thank all of the advocates and everyone out there for helping to make this possible.”
However, Harris’ support for marijuana law reform goes further than Biden’s. In April, Harris became the first vice president in US history to state her support for legalization, saying “we need to legalize marijuana.”
Although Harris opposed legalization when she was California’s Attorney General — even laughing at a reporter in 2014 who asked if she supported the state’s marijuana legalization initiative — she has since evolved on the issue, announcing her support for legalizing marijuana as far back as 2019.
“It’s time to end mass incarceration”, Harris said in a September 2019 Tweet. “This includes legalizing marijuana, sentencing reforms and abolishing private prisons.”
Although several other candidates could vie for his position if President Biden decides to step away, it seems unlikely that Biden would endorse anyone other than his vice president, making it a huge challenge, if not virtually impossible, for anyone else to be chosen.
