Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders' plans to legalize cannabis in the US

Democratic presidential candidate Senator Elizabeth Warren has unveiled its plan to legalize cannabis, which she intends to implement within the first 100 days of her presidency by «removing cannabis from the list of federally controlled substances,» with the involvement of government agencies (DEA, FDA, and ONDCP) to regulate cannabis outside of Congress’s authority if Congress fails to act on potential reform.

The plan, titled «A Just and Equitable Cannabis Industry,» includes amnesty for past convictions, access to medical cannabis for veterans, funding for cannabis research, allowing Washington, D.C., to implement a taxed and regulated market as approved by voters in 2014, allowing tribes to implement their own cannabis policies, protecting immigrants working in the industry, and supporting other nations that choose to legalize the plant.

Warren unveiled her plan ahead of a campaign stop in Denver, Colorado, and said at the rally that the reforms were aimed at «undoing a century of racist policies that disproportionately targeted Black and Latino communities.».

To justify her plan, Warren highlighted, among other things, Colorado's successes, including the $1 billion in taxes from the industry and the decline in opioid-related deaths since the start of legal sales in the state.

As for Bernie Sanders, who is considered one of the most progressive Democratic candidates along with Warren, he said he would legalize cannabis by executive order on the first day of his term. Bernie Sanders has been advocating for the legalization of cannabis for years. In 2015, Sanders sponsored the first Senate bill to end the federal ban on cannabis.

Bernie Sanders has He also promised to expunge past convictions for cannabis possession and said that his reform would include elements of social equity.

«We will ensure that the legal cannabis industry is not controlled by a handful of companies, but that these people—the African American community, the Latino community, the Native American community—the people who have suffered the most—will receive support so they can earn money through a legalized marijuana industry.».

When Bernie Sanders called for federal legalization during his 2016 presidential campaign, his ideas were still considered extreme by many. Now, all the major candidates in the 2020 presidential election—with the exception of Joe Biden—support legalization.