In a historic shift for U.S. politics, both major party candidates in the upcoming presidential election have expressed support for legalizing marijuana.
This marks the first time in American history that candidates from both the Democratic and Republican parties have aligned on this issue, signaling a significant change in the political landscape surrounding cannabis policy.
In past elections, support for marijuana reform was a rarity among major party candidates. While there were occasional advocates for decriminalization—such as Jimmy Carter in the 1970s and more recently, Joe Biden during his 2020 campaign—outright support for legalization has been non-existent. Even during the last few election cycles, where public support for legalization was growing, candidates were often cautious, if not outright opposed, to endorsing full legalization.
The 2024 election, however, breaks this long-standing trend. Vice President Kamala Harris has been in support of legalization since 2019, saying in September of that year, “It’s time to end mass incarceration. This includes legalizing marijuana, sentencing reforms, and abolishing private prisons.”
Later that year, in an interview with Charlamagne tha God soon after these remarks, Harris underscored her belief in the positive impact of marijuana legalization, saying “It gives a lot of people joy, and we need more joy”.
Also in 2019, Harris sponsored the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act to fully deschedule marijuana.
During his time in office, former President Trump opposed legalizing marijuana, but his administration did take a hands-off approach to marijuana laws, choosing not to interfere with the dozens of states that have legalized marijuana distribution.
Earlier this month Trump indicated a shift, saying he “agree a lot more” that marijuana should be legalized.
“As we legalize it, I start to agree a lot more because, you know, it’s being legalized all over the country,” said Trump at a press conference held today. “Florida has something coming up. I’ll be making a statement about that fairly soon.”
A few days ago, at the end of August, Trump took things a step further by saying he plans to vote in favor of Florida’s Amendment 3, the first real indication he supports legalization.
“In Florida, like so many other States that have already given their approval, personal amounts of marijuana will be legalized for adults with Amendment 3″, said Trump in a TruthSocial post. “Whether people like it or not, this will happen through the approval of the Voters, so it should be done correctly.”
Trump said “We do not need to ruin lives & waste Taxpayer Dollars arresting adults with personal amounts of it on them, and no one should grieve a loved one because they died from fentanyl laced marijuana. We will make America SAFE again!”
Whether or not both candidates being in support of legalization will cause marijuana to be a nonissue in the upcoming election, or whether it will thrust it into the spotlight as the candidates explain their nuanced differences in how legalization should be approached, is yet unknown.
