Expected Democratic presidential candidate and current Vice President Kamala Harris. Photo Credit: Getty Images
With President Joe Biden dropping out of the race, it’s looking like Vice President Kamala Harris will be the democrats’ pick in the 2024 presidential election. As she makes her bid for the White House, many wonder about her stance on issues like the War on Drugs.
Harris has a long and complicated history with cannabis laws and legalization. So what would the industry look like under a Harris administration?
Early Misgivings
In the time Harris spent as San Francisco’s district attorney from 2004-2010, she oversaw the conviction of about 1,900 people on cannabis violations. This number was higher than that of her predecessor, but Mercury News reports that most of these low-level possession convictions avoided incarceration.
While Harris has been vocal about her support of legal medical cannabis, she opposed a 2010 measure—Proposition 19—that would have legalized recreational cannabis in California.
Her tenure as California’s attorney general from 2011-2017 saw 2,000 individuals jailed for cannabis-related offenses. During her 2014 reelection campaign, she declined to comment when asked about her opinion on recreational cannabis legalization.
In the eyes of many, Harris’ actions from this period of her political career remain a large blemish on her resume. Advocates like the Last Prisoner Project’s Steve DeAngelo have repeatedly questioned her dedication to the cause regardless of any change in opinion. He’s accused her of taking campaign money from cannabis activists and refusing to defend them from the Department of Justice. As a result, DeAngelo and many others are still demanding an apology.
Changing Tides
At the 2015 Democratic National Convention, Harris called for an end to the federal ban on medical cannabis. This was just the beginning of Harris’ radical shift in opinion.
Since then, she’s cosponsored several bills meant to improve the cannabis industry and help those impacted by the War on Drugs. That includes the 2017 SAFE Banking Act, a bill that shields banks from federal punishment for working with cannabis businesses.
In her 2019 book, The Truths We Hold, Harris advocated for cannabis legalization as well as the expungement of non-violent cannabis offenses.
She also talked about her personal experiences with the plant, including an infamous Breakfast Club interview where she spoke about smoking weed in college.
During her 2020 presidential campaign, Harris was the lead senate sponsor for a bold new plan to decriminalize and tax cannabis at the federal level. The Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act (MORE) would eventually be passed in 2022.
Part of the Solution
As a district attorney, attorney general, and state senator, Harris has always taken an interest in criminal justice reform. More specifically, her plan to end mass incarceration begins with cannabis legalization.
As a senator, she continued to push for more lenient cannabis laws. Director of Federal Affairs at the Drug Party Alliance Maritza Perez Medina says this interest was more than just talk. Medina praised Harris’ willingness to not only continue the conversation but introduce legislation. She also spoke about the need for reform from a racial justice perspective, understanding how disproportionally cannabis laws affect people of color.
White House Impact
Kamala Harris sits down with rapper Fat Joe to talk cannabis reform. Photo Credit: Getty Images
Harris has only strengthened her new reputation as pro-cannabis since entering the White House. She helped champion the Biden administration’s stance on the plant, issuing pardons for a myriad of federal cannabis offenses.
Harris and Biden have also been working to reschedule cannabis from a Schedule I drug to a Schedule III drug. This action would remove pot from the same category as harder drugs like heroin and LSD. It would also ease the tax burden on vendors.
Harris has been especially vocal about the need to reschedule cannabis. In an interview with rapper Fat Joe in March, she called cannabis’s Schedule I designation “absurd and unfair” in a plea for the Department of Health and Human Services to speed up the process. In that same interview, she stated that no one should go to jail for smoking weed.
Morgan Fox, political director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), says that Harris has been an even stronger advocate than Biden during their time in the White House.
Who’s The Real Kamala?
Despite this seemingly rapid change in stance, many are still skeptical about Harris’ true feelings toward cannabis legalization. After the Fat Joe interview, Steve DeAngelo called the Vice President out, stating that, “Kamala Harris has been trying to play both sides of the fence on this issue for years and years and years.”
At the end of the day, Harris is a politician first and foremost. Her evolving opinions about cannabis legalization parallel those of the American public. There is a chance that these viewpoints truly are her own, but there’s also a chance that this is nothing more than political posturing.
Harris has especially been ramping up this pro-cannabis dialogue on the campaign trail, even before Biden dropped out.
Smart Approaches to Marijuana president and former White House drug policy advisor Kevin Sabet believes that Harris would “tread carefully” on cannabis policy in a similar manner to Biden. He also believes that the Vice President’s heightened interest in the cause is “driven by politics more than science.”
So what does Kamala Harris actually think about cannabis legalization? Only time will tell.
Well written article Cannabis is just entering the market so I would agree there is a long journey ahead although significant strides have been made. I agree with the author. It’s a wait and see.