Harris sings, ‘Legalize it!’

Where the other candidates stand

    On a recent podcast Vice President Kamala Harris made her position on marijuana perfectly clear. She said, “I just think we have come to a point where we have to understand that we need to legalize it and stop criminalizing this behavior.”

    It seems her running mate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz didn’t get the memo. While he signed an adult-use marijuana bill into law in May 2023, he believes it’s an issue for the states to decide, in other words, status quo.

    Harris’ statement is being looked at by industry experts as historic and they are throwing their support behind her. Andrew Kline, a Colorado attorney formerly with Justice Department said, “Anyone who cares about this issue should be voting for Democrats up and down the ballot — and for Kamala Harris in particular.”

    On the other hand, Trump’s official record leaves the industry in a state of uncertainty. MJBizDaily wrote, “Trump’s marijuana policy might best be classified as beneficial neglect.” His appointment to lead the Justice Department was Jeff Sessions, an Alabama Republican senator who was a “noted prohibitionist who compared marijuana to heroin.” On the other hand, during his administration California, Illinois and Massachusetts all legalized adult-use recreational marijuana and neither Trump nor Sessions tried to stop it.

    In recent remarks about a Florida marijuana initiative Trump tweeted that it “will happen through the approval of the voters” which is one of those neither here nor there statements.