As she did just prior to becoming the Democratic Party nominee for president, Vice President Kamala Harris has announced her support for legalizing adult-use marijuana use at the federal level. Just to remind you of the interesting times we are living in, the veep did so during a guest appearance on the sports podcast “All the Smoke.”
“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,” Harris said. Harris made a point to argue that her support of legalization was not new, saying that “I have felt for a long time we need to legalize it.”
I have no evidence or specific reason to believe that Harris doesn’t mean what she says, and her words should come as welcome news to advocates of adult-use marijuana. But as we consider the ferocity and motivation behind her position, I do think it’s worth noting (1) her reasons for supporting marijuana reform and (2) her prior statements and actions regarding marijuana.
As to her rationale for marijuana reform, Harris focused on the disproportionate harms existing marijuana policies have inflicted on certain communities. Harris also discussed how the criminalization of selling and using the drug has disproportionately targeted Black communities. Although Black people use the drug at the same rate as white people, they are arrested for marijuana-related offenses at a rate that is four times higher.
She also added that “[w]e know historically what [criminalization of marijuana] has meant and who has gone to jail.”
But any serious conversation about Harris’ statements on marijuana during an election should be considered against her prior actions on marijuana as a government official. Although Harris has expressed support for legalizing recreational cannabis use in past years, she was ambivalent about legalization as recently as 2016.
As a U.S. senator in 2018, Harris, alongside Sen. Cory Booker (D-New Jersey), co-sponsored legislation that would have expunged past cannabis-related offenses and legalized the drug for recreational use. She expressed support for similar moves in 2020 as a candidate for president during the Democratic primaries.
In 2016, however, as a candidate for senator, she took no position on marijuana legalization, even as voters in her home state of California were considering passing a ballot initiative to legalize the drug. Harris also campaigned against a similar measure in 2010 as a candidate for attorney general, stating that she supported medicinal use of marijuana but not legalizing recreational use.
As a district attorney in San Francisco, Harris’ office oversaw nearly 2,000 convictions for marijuana use, although in most cases individuals were not sent to prison upon being convicted.
The vast majority of Americans support legalizing cannabis. A Gallup poll from last November, for example, found that 70% of voters backed full legalization of marijuana, while just 29% wanted the drug to remain illegal.
So, what are we to make of all this? Is the vice president simply making politically expedient statements during an election cycle? It certainly wouldn’t be the first time a politician did so, and there are plenty of similar questions about former President Donald Trump’s recent comments on marijuana reform. Or is she simply supporting a milquetoast type of reform that would promote lenient treatment of prior offenders but not the type of robust marijuana liberalization hoped for by advocates? If you listen to her justification for reform proposals, that would not be an unreasonable interpretation of her position. Or has her position evolved, as so many other Americans’ positions have evolved, to the point that she believes marijuana should be federally legal and accessible to more Americans?
At the end of the day, I suppose we’re left to take a politician’s word for it or not. Budding Trends doesn’t take political positions, and I don’t feel like it’s our place to evaluate the credibility of Harris’ more recent statements. It’s up to every voter to compare prior actions against current language and decide whether and how that impacts their vote.
But I encourage you to vote, even if it only allows you to complain.
