President Biden announced he will not seek reelection and has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as his successor.
With Harris being the only candidate eligible to inherit the administration’s campaign funds, and with Biden endorsing her, it is unlikely any other candidate will gain enough support by the 2024 Democratic National Convention in August in order to replace Harris at the top of the ticket.
If Kamala Harris becomes the nominee and is elected president, she will be the first U.S. president to support legalizing marijuana. While she opposed California’s 2014 marijuana legalization initiative as Attorney General, her stance changed by 2019.
“It’s time to end mass incarceration,” Harris tweeted in September 2019. “This includes legalizing marijuana, sentencing reforms, and abolishing private prisons.”
As a U.S. Senator, Harris co-sponsored the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act, which aims to deschedule marijuana, expunge certain cannabis offenses, and establish a federal excise tax for marijuana sales.
Harris has also supported the Biden Administration’s efforts to reschedule marijuana to Schedule III. 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 for making this possible.”
Earlier this year, Harris expressed her support for marijuana legalization, making her the first vice president in U.S. history to do so. After promoting the Biden Administration’s marijuana pardons, she said, “We need to legalize marijuana.” This stance aligns with her 2020 presidential campaign platform.
