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- Kamala Harris may go further than Joe Biden on marijuana legalization.
- Harris emphasized that “this is not a new position” for her.
- But it is the first time since launching her presidential run that she reaffirmed her support.
For the first time since launching her presidential campaign, Vice President Kamala Harris has affirmed her support for legalizing marijuana at the federal level.
“We have come to a point where we have to understand that we need to legalize it and stop criminalizing this behavior,” Harris said on an episode of the “All the Smoke” podcast released on Monday.
It’s a stance that puts her ahead of where President Joe Biden has been on the issue. While the Biden administration initiated a process earlier this year to reclassify marijuana as a less harmful drug, and has issued thousands of pardons for marijuana-related offenses, Biden has not called for fully legalizing the drug.
Harris has long supported legalizing marijuana, including introducing legislation as a senator to legalize the drug nationwide and expunge nonviolent marijuana-related offenses.
Marijuana legalization would have significant economic implications. According to the Marijuana Policy Project, states collected more than $4 billion in tax revenue from the industry in 2023.
“This is not a new position for me,” Harris said on the podcast. “I have felt for a long time we need to legalize it, so that’s where I am on that.”
Yet prior to this week, it was unclear whether Harris continued to hold that position as her party’s new standard-bearer. She had not publicly commented on the issue since launching her campaign, her issues page did not include any mention of marijuana, and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, had dodged a question on the issue earlier this month.
Democratic Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, a key sponsor of “safe banking” legislation to enable banks to work with marjiuana businesses, told Business Insider last week that he didn’t “know where she is on this issue.”
Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump has signaled some level of support for marijuana legalization, declaring that he would vote for for a ballot measure to legalize recreational marijuana use in Florida while signaling support for safe banking laws.
Legalizing marijuana is popular with the American public. A 2023 Gallup poll found that 70% of Americans — including a bare majority of Republicans — thought the drug should be legal.
