Kamala Harris presents her plan for federal cannabis legalization

Vice President Kamala Harris has pledged to legalize cannabis at the federal level in the United States.

If elected, she will «break down the unjust legal barriers that prevent Blacks and other Americans from advancing by legalizing marijuana on a national level, working with Congress to ensure that the cultivation, distribution and possession of recreational marijuana are allowed under the law,» Harris' team said Monday.

Legalizing cannabis in the United States

The first stage of the cannabis reform plan is to remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act (Controlled Substances Act) and its culture, distribution and possession for adults be legalized at federal level. At present, cannabis is classified in the USA as a Schedule I substance, alongside substances such as heroin in terms of federal restrictions.

The reclassification of cannabis to a lower category as Annex III would facilitate cannabis research and banking opportunities for companies in the sector. The DEA has announced that it will make its decision after the November presidential elections.

As said Kamala Harris in a recent interview with the podcast All the Smoke, I'm convinced that people shouldn't go to prison for smoking weed. And we know historically what that's meant and who's gone to jail«, as the criminalization of cannabis has long been an instrument of systemic racism.

So Kamala Harris is taking a broader view while seeking to galvanize support among black voters. As her campaign points out black men have historically been punished for their cannabis use, with disproportionately high incarceration rates. Polls have also indicated that support for Democrats may be waning among this demographic, prompting Harris to step up her outreach efforts. The campaign's «opportunity agenda» is designed to resonate with black voters by addressing social and economic inequalities beyond cannabis.

Cannabis policy in the context of national policy

Ms. Harris's call for a federal legalization of cannabis aims to break with the previous administration. The campaign has criticized former President Donald Trump for what it calls «threats of federal prosecution» in states where cannabis is legal. While no large-scale federal crackdowns have taken place, Kamala Harris argues that Donald Trump's policies have contributed to the continuation of’disproportionate application of cannabis laws against black Americans, which she knows well since she enforced them when she was a prosecutor.

Donald Trump, for his part, asserted that he was only in favour of a re-evaluation of cannabis as a less restrictive substance in the context of the Controlled Substances Act.

In a message posted on social media, he said, «As president, we will continue to focus on research to unlock the medical uses of marijuana to make it a Schedule 3 drug, and we will work with Congress to pass common-sense legislation, including safe banking for state-licensed businesses.»

However, Kamala Harris' team accused Donal Trump of flip-flopping on the issue, arguing that its past actions in drug reform did not match his current statements.

During his presidency, Donald Trump has not taken any large-scale repressive measures against cannabis businesses, but remained largely silent on the issue of full federal legalization. And as usual with Donald Trump, he's often not very concrete in his answers, which by the way don't commit anyone, not even him.