Trump signals support for reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug

This commonality reflects a significant shift toward broad public support for legalization in recent years and marks the first time that both major party presidential candidates have supported comprehensive cannabis reform, according to the U.S. Cannabis Council.

The Republican presidential candidate posted on his social media platform late Sunday that he would “continue to focus on research to explore the medical uses of marijuana as a Schedule 3 drug” and also said he would vote “yes” to a proposal to allow the sale of marijuana to adults for any reason in Florida.

Just before the two meet for a crucial debate, Trump’s post opens up the possibility that he could criticize Harris for her past prosecutions for cannabis offenses during her tenure as San Francisco district attorney.

Since drug prosecutions in the United States disproportionately affect non-white defendants, this line of attack could also fit with Trump’s efforts to increase his support among non-white men.

Ms. Harris supports decriminalization and called it “absurd” that the Drug Enforcement Administration now lists marijuana in the Schedule I category alongside heroin and LSD.

Earlier in her career, she oversaw the enforcement of cannabis laws and opposed legalized adult recreational use in California when she ran for attorney general in 2010.

Ms. Harris has faced attacks on her record as a prosecutor on the debate stage in the past, most notably from former Democrat and current Trump supporter Tulsi Gabbard, who ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020 and announced her departure from the party in 2022.

During his candidacy in 2016, Trump said marijuana policy should be left to the states.

However, during his tenure in the White House, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions repealed an Obama-era policy that prevented federal authorities from cracking down on marijuana trafficking in states where the drug is legal.

The DEA’s process to change the drug’s federal classification is already underway, prompted by President Joe Biden’s call for a review.

However, the DEA has not yet made a final decision on this change, which would not mean full legalization of marijuana for recreational use, and may not be decided until the next presidential election, which will put the candidates’ positions in the spotlight.

In recent years, federal drug policy has lagged behind that of many states: 38 states have already legalized medical marijuana and 24 have legalized recreational use.

In a Gallup poll last year, about 70 percent of adults supported legalization, the highest the polling firm has ever recorded and more than double the percentage in 2000, when about three in 10 people supported it.

Support was even higher among young voters, an important demographic in the seven swing states.

“We believe cannabis reform is a promising issue,” David Culver, senior vice president of public affairs at the U.S. Cannabis Council, said in a statement Monday.

The federal policy shift would not directly legalize marijuana for recreational use. Instead, it would move marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III, along with ketamine and some anabolic steroids.

The proposed change is facing resistance from advocates who say there is not enough data, according to the organization Smart Approaches to Marijuana. Attorneys general of more than a dozen states are also voicing opposition, the report said.