Politics
Where Presidential Candidate Kamala Harris Stands On Marijuana
Voters this November will see the first major party presidential candidate who supports marijuana legalization at the top of the ticket, with Vice President Kamala Harris becoming the Democratic nominee after President Joe Biden made the historic announcement that he is exiting the race.
Unlike Biden, Harris backs a complete end to federal cannabis prohibition. She’s called for legalization as recently as October 2024, during a podcast interview that came months after she privately endorsed the policy change in a closed-door meeting with marijuana pardon recipients. And during her time in the Senate, Harris sponsored a comprehensive legalization bill in addition to other incremental cannabis reform measures.
But this wasn’t always her position. The current vice president has undergone a significant evolution on the issue, as she oversaw cannabis cases as a prosecutor and campaigned against a marijuana legalization ballot initiative in California while running for state attorney general. She was openly dismissive of the reform, at one point laughing off a reporter’s question about the potential policy change.
That’s no longer the case, however. Harris has framed legalization as a key criminal justice issue, calling prohibition a failed policy that has disproportionately impacted minority communities.
As vice president, Harris has repeatedly touted the administration’s moves to issue mass pardons to people who’ve committed federal cannabis possession offenses and direct a scheduling review that’s led the Justice Department to recommend reclassifying cannabis. She also privately called for broader reform.
Put simply, if she ultimately secures her party’s presidential nomination, Harris will be the most marijuana friendly major party presidential nominee in U.S. history.
This story was last updated on October 7, 2024 to include the candidate’s statements and policy actions on marijuana since joining the race.
Here’s a look at where Vice President Kamala Harris stands on cannabis:
Legislation And Policy Actions
Biden-Harris administration
Harris has made much of the administration’s cannabis clemency efforts, applauding the president’s mass pardon of thousands of people who’ve committed federal marijuana possession offenses.
She’s also embraced the scheduling review Biden directed in October 2022 that ultimately led the Justice Department to recommend moving cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).
In March, Harris hosted a group of pardon recipients at the White House for a roundtable event promoting the clemency action. And she called the the Drug Enforcement Administration to follow through on rescheduling “as quickly as possible,” while privately reaffirming her belief that “we need to legalize marijuana.”
“This issue is stark when one considers the fact that on the schedule currently, marijuana is considered as dangerous as heroin,” she said at the time. “Marijuana is considered as dangerous as heroin and more dangerous than fentanyl. Which is absurd. Not to mention patently unfair.”
With respect to the pardons, as advocates have been quick to point out, there are also still an estimated 2,800 people currently in federal prison for marijuana convictions that aren’t limited to simple possession. Multiple groups, including immigrants and those who’ve been charged with selling marijuana, were excluded from the presidential pardon.
Symbolically, however, the announcement represented a paradigm shift in federal cannabis policy. And recognizing that the majority of cannabis convictions happen at the state level, the administration also took the opportunity to urge governors in state across the U.S. to follow Biden’s lead by using their own authorities to grant similar relief.
Under the Biden-Harris administration, the president also signed into law the first piece of standalone marijuana reform legislation that was designed to streamline cannabis research.
However, the administration has also faced criticism over other anti-cannabis policy actions, including multiple budget requests that proposed maintaining a ban that has long prevented Washington, D.C. from using its local tax dollars to implement a system of marijuana sales.
The Justice Department, meanwhile, has repeatedly defended in federal courts the ongoing ban on gun ownership by people who use cannabis, arguing that marijuana consumers pose a unique threat and comparing them to people with mental illnesses.
Also under the administration, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has faced scrutiny for using resources to seize cannabis from state-legal businesses in New Mexico.
The White House has also come out against a House-passed proposal to prevent military branches from testing for marijuana for enlistment or commission as part of a large-scale defense bill, calling cannabis use a “military readiness and safety concern.”
However, the president signed an earlier version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that contains provisions to fund clinical trials into the therapeutic potential of psychedelics for active duty military service members.
Early in 2021, meanwhile, the administration came under fire after it was reported that it had terminated or otherwise punished dozens of staffers who admitted to prior marijuana use as part of their background check process.
U.S. Senator
At a senator, Harris’s most notable contribution with respect to cannabis reform legislation was her sponsorship of the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act, which would federally legalized cannabis and promoted social equity.
“Times have changed—marijuana should not be a crime,” she said when introducing the bill. “We need to start regulating marijuana, and expunge marijuana convictions from the records of millions of Americans so they can get on with their lives.
The senator first came out in support of legalization in 2018, adding her name to a different far-reaching bill introduced by Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ). The legislation, the Marijuana Justice Act, would remove cannabis from the list of federally banned substances and also penalize states where marijuana laws are enforced disproportionately against people of color. She also cosponsored the 2019 version of the bill.
The fact is, marijuana laws are not applied and enforced in the same way for all people. That’s why I've signed onto @CoryBooker’s Marijuana Justice Act to make marijuana legal at the federal level. It’s the smart thing to do. pic.twitter.com/JD5qqm0bfU
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) May 10, 2018
“Right now in this country people are being arrested, being prosecuted, and end up spending time in jail or prison all because of their use of a drug that otherwise should be considered legal,” she said in a press release. “Making marijuana legal at the federal level is the smart thing to do, it’s the right thing to do. I know this as a former prosecutor and I know it as a senator.”
Beyond the MORE Act and Marijuana Justice Act, Harris also co-sponsored the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act, which would protect banks that work with marijuana businesses from federal punishment.
The senator sponsored bills aimed at repairing land in California that’s been impacted by illicit cannabis grows and another piece of legislation that would protect people with drug convictions from losing public housing.
Harris also signed a letter alongside then-Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) that called on the Justice Department to stop blocking federal research into medical cannabis. In a separate sign-on letter, she joined her colleagues in requesting that lawmakers include protections for legal cannabis states in a spending bill.
During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in 2019, Harris discussed how a Black man incarcerated over a marijuana offense died after contracting coronavirus. She stated that the case illustrated how “we have two systems of justice in America” based on race.
She and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) made a similar point in a letter to then-Attorney General William Barr.
Harris and two other senators wrote a letter to then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) in 2020, criticizing Republicans in the chamber for putting forth a policing reform bill that they argue is inadequate, in part because it does not ban no-knock raids in drug cases as House Democrats did in that chamber’s legislation.
The senator and 43 other members of Congress urged the Justice Department to investigate the death of 26-year-old Black woman Breonna Taylor in a botched drug raid.
In September, Harris cited racial disparities in marijuana enforcement as an example of how there are effectively two separate systems of justice in the country for people of color and white people.
In 2020, she signed onto a letter to Senate leadership, imploring them to include language in coronavirus relief legislation that would allow marijuana businesses to access federal relief dollars just as companies in other industries can.
Marijuana small businesses employ more than 240,000 workers and should be allowed to access coronavirus relief funds too. My colleagues and I are pushing to ensure they’re not left out of Congress’s next relief package.
— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) April 24, 2020
“Marijuana small businesses employ more than 240,000 workers and should be allowed to access coronavirus relief funds too,” she tweeted. “My colleagues and I are pushing to ensure they’re not left out of Congress’s next relief package.”
Also that year, Harris and 10 other senators sent a letter to leadership in a key committee asking that they add a provision allowing cannabis businesses to access federal loan services in spending legislation.
When the governor of Illinois issued pardons for more than 11,000 people with cannabis convictions the day before legal sales started, the senator said she applauded the decision.
I applaud Illinois’ leadership on this issue. Expunging non-violent marijuana-related offenses is the right thing to do.
Now let’s legalize marijuana at the federal level.https://t.co/7M4of9Aikg
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) January 4, 2020
“Expunging non-violent marijuana-related offenses is the right thing to do,” she said. “Now let’s legalize marijuana at the federal level.”
Harris joined a group of senators in 2019 in pressing top federal drug and health agencies to provide an update on the status of efforts to increase the number of authorized marijuana manufacturers for research purposes.
She and a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers also sent a letter to the Justice Department, requesting a policy change allowing researchers to access marijuana from state-legal dispensaries to improve studies on the plant’s benefits and risks.
On the unofficial marijuana holiday 4/20 in 2020, Harris tweeted that the Senate “must pass my Marijuana Opportunity Act to legalize marijuana at the federal level and expunge non-violent marijuana-related offenses from the records of the millions who’ve been arrested or incarcerated. Too many lives have been ruined by these regressive policies.”
The Senate must pass my Marijuana Opportunity Act to legalize marijuana at the federal level and expunge non-violent marijuana-related offenses from the records of the millions who’ve been arrested or incarcerated. Too many lives have been ruined by these regressive policies.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) April 20, 2020
Using loaded war on drugs rhetoric, however, she called President Donald Trump a “drug pusher” for promoting the use of hydroxychloroquine as a potential treatment for COVID-19.
As Harris faced criticism over her relative silence on marijuana policy issues after becoming the party’s nominee, a resurfaced ACLU candidate questionnaire from 2019 showed she previously backed broader reform—specifically, full federal decriminalization of drug possession—when running for the office in 2020.
California Attorney General and District Prosecutor
During an attempt to legalize marijuana in California through a 2010 initiative that appeared on the same ballot as Harris’s candidacy for state attorney general, she called the measure a “flawed public policy.” Her campaign manager said she “supports the legal use of medicinal marijuana but does not support anything beyond that” and that she “believes that drug selling harms communities.”
She also co-authored an argument against the measure that appeared in the state’s official ballot guide, stating that legalization “seriously compromises the safety of our communities, roadways, and workplaces.”
During a speech at The Commonwealth Club in 2010, Harris scoffed at a question about cannabis reform and said “I’m not a proponent of that, but I know that there are a lot of people who are. It’s not my issue.” At the same event she spoke about prosecuting people for selling drugs, saying, “I don’t feel sorry for you and I’m not going to forgive you for committing a crime.”
Harris was then asked about legalizing marijuana. She laughed at the idea. pic.twitter.com/7DWpFonRd5
— Follow me on Threads/Bluesky, download OptOut app (@WalkerBragman) July 2, 2019
Later, during her stint as attorney general, Harris received criticism from some marijuana policy reform advocates for not doing more to push back against federal prosecutors’ crackdown against locally approved California medical cannabis dispensaries during the first term of the Obama administration, though she did send a series of letters on the topic and made some public statements.
“The federal government is ill-equipped to be the sole arbiter of whether an individual or group is acting within the bounds of California’s medical marijuana laws when cultivating marijuana for medical purposes,” she wrote in a letter to the state’s U.S. attorneys.
She also called on state lawmakers to clarify California’s medical cannabis laws in a separate letter, which argued that reforms might ward off further federal intervention. “Without a substantive change to existing law, these irreconcilable interpretations of the law, and the resulting uncertainty for law enforcement and seriously ill patients, will persist,” she wrote.
“Californians overwhelmingly support the compassionate use of medical marijuana for the ill. We should all be troubled, however, by the proliferation of gangs and criminal enterprises that seek to exploit this law by illegally cultivating and trafficking marijuana,” she said in a statement around the same time.
“While there are definite ambiguities in state law that must be resolved either by the state legislature or the courts, an overly broad federal enforcement campaign will make it more difficult for legitimate patients to access physician-recommended medicine in California,” she said. “I urge the federal authorities in the state to adhere to the United States Department of Justice’s stated policy and focus their enforcement efforts on ‘significant traffickers of illegal drugs.’”
An analysis by the Washington Free Beacon determined that at least 1,560 people were sent to California state prisons for marijuana-related offenses during Harris’s tenure as attorney general.
Critics have seized upon that record, while also pointing to prosecutions over cannabis that occurred under Harris ‘s leadership when she served as San Francisco’s district attorney. However, while there were 1,956 convictions for misdemeanor and felony marijuana offenses from 2004 and 2010 when she led the office, only 45 are known to have been sent to state prison. It’s unclear how many others were incarcerated in county jails, however.
In a 2008 book, Harris argued that nonviolent crimes “exact a huge toll on America’s communities” and that it’s “important to fight all crime.”
“Drug crimes in particular exact a terrible toll and rob people young and old of hope,” she wrote.
On The Campaign Trail
After weeks of silence on marijuana policy issues since becoming the party’s presidential nominee, Harris said during a podcast interview in September 2024 that it’s time to legalize marijuana.
“I just feel strongly, people should not be going to jail for smoking weed,” she said in an interview with the All the Smoke podcast. “And we know historically what that has meant and who has gone to jail.”
“Second, 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 told hosts Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, who are former NBA players.
“Actually this is not a new position for me,” Harris said. “I have felt for a long time we need to legalize it. So that’s where I am on that.”
After Trump came out in support of certain cannabis reforms—including federal rescheduling and allowing marijuana industry access to the banking system—the Harris–Walz campaign accused Trump of lying about his support for marijuana reform—arguing that his “blatant pandering” runs counter to his administration’s record on cannabis.
Following Trump’s recent announcement of support for the Florida cannabis legalization ballot measure, the Democratic campaign made an effort to remind voters that while in office, Trump “took marijuana reform backwards.”
In a memo from a senior campaign spokesperson, the Harris-Walz campaign accused Trump of “brazen flip flops” on cannabis, saying it’s one of the Republican former president’s “several bewildering ‘policy proposals’ that deserve real scrutiny.”
Previous Quotes And Social Media Posts
Vice President (2021-present)
The vice president made an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live in June 2024, where she dismissed the “gateway drug” theory and promoted the administration’s cannabis clemency efforts but also seemed to overstate how the administration’s move to reschedule cannabis would impact criminal justice and the resulting availability of resources for other priorities.
“I think we both agree that people shouldn’t have to go to jail for smoking weed,” the vice president said. “And we’ve pardoned a number of people.”
“You know, I think it’s interesting also because, remember, there was a time when people would say, ‘well, marijuana is a gateway drug,’ and these were failed policies,” she said. “The resources should be better directed—and will be better directed—to deal with opioid addiction and what we need to do around fentanyl, getting more resources into mental health and mental health care.”
Moving marijuana to Schedule III would not legalize cannabis, so it’s unclear how that reclassification would directly lead to the reallocation of resources as the vice president suggested.
At a roundtable event alongside Kim Kardashian and four people who received presidential pardons for drug-related convictions in April 2024, Harris said the administration remains committed to exercising its clemency authority, which has included Biden’s pardon proclamations for federal cannabis offenses.
“Many of you have heard me say, I just don’t think people should have to go to jail for smoking weed. And these pardons have been issued as an extension of that approach,” she said.
On the cannabis holiday 4/20 in 2024, both Biden and Harris promoted marijuana policy reform in social media posts at exactly 4:20pm ET.
Nobody should have to go to jail for smoking weed.
We must continue to change our nation’s approach to marijuana while reforming the justice system so it finally lives up to its name. pic.twitter.com/AJFmexf8a3
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) April 20, 2024
While commemorating “Second Chance Month” that same month, Harris also shared a video clip on social media from her White House roundtable with marijuana pardon recipients.
Nobody should go to jail for smoking weed. During Second Chance Month, I am uplifting the inspiring stories of pardon recipients like Michelle, Chris, and Dexter. Their journeys are proof of the importance of pardons and second chances. pic.twitter.com/6fIuFgPT16
— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) April 12, 2024
In February 2024, Harris said the administration’s move to pardon people for federal marijuana possession offenses is an example of how it is delivering for Americans, particularly young and Black voters.
“Another issue [is] what we have done to pardon tens of thousands of people for simple marijuana possession under the federal law—because, frankly, nobody should have to go to jail for smoking weed,” the vice president said.
“So these are some of the things that we have done that I think really do resonate with young people, with Black voters and young Black voters, with young Black men,” she said, also citing efforts to increase access to high-speed internet and fund historically Black colleges and universities. “And there’s more to do.”
While Harris said “tens of thousands” have been pardoned under President Joe Biden’s October 2022 and December 2023 clemency proclamations, the Justice Department estimates that roughly 13,000 people have been granted relief under the executive action.
Also in February 2024, the vice president cited the administration’s moves toward reforming federal marijuana laws in a video appealing to young voters—though her specific claim that policies had already been “changed” was widely viewed as premature.
In 2020, young voters turned out in record numbers to make a difference.
Let's do it again in 2024. Visit https://t.co/uFebNsiXMb to join our campaign. pic.twitter.com/OLOUtYPeCt
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) February 9, 2024
“We changed federal marijuana policy, because nobody should have to go to jail just for smoking weed,” Harris said in the video.
2020 Presidential Campaign Trail
During her prior 2020 presidential run, Harris released a criminal justice plan that says “it is past time to end the failed war on drugs, and it begins with legalizing marijuana.”
It’s time to end mass incarceration.
This includes legalizing marijuana, sentencing reforms, and abolishing private prisons. With the addition of job training and education, these actions will reduce crime and help build healthy communities.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) September 9, 2019
“It’s time to end mass incarceration,” she tweeted the same day. “This includes legalizing marijuana, sentencing reforms, and abolishing private prisons. With the addition of job training and education, these actions will reduce crime and help build healthy communities.”
After then-House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) announced a markup of the MORE Act in November 2019, Harris wrote that the “War on Drugs was an abject failure” and that it’s “time to legalize marijuana and bring justice to people of color harmed by failed drug policies.”
The War on Drugs was an abject failure. It's time to legalize marijuana and bring justice to people of color harmed by failed drug policies.
Grateful for @RepJerryNadler’s partnership on this issue. I look forward to getting our bill one step closer to becoming law. https://t.co/Qd5wqPfrdT
— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) November 18, 2019
“Grateful for [Nadler’s] partnership on this issue,” she said. “I look forward to getting our bill one step closer to becoming law.”
After the committee approved the legislation, Harris wrote, “Not only do we need to legalize marijuana at the federal level, but we have to do it right and bring justice to communities of color” and said the MORE Act would accomplish that.
Not only do we need to legalize marijuana at the federal level, but we have to do it right and bring justice to communities of color.
My bill with @RepJerryNadler will do that—and it just passed committee in the House. Grateful we’re one step closer to passing it in Congress. https://t.co/RecNLKXAXn
— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) November 20, 2019
“Last week, my bill to legalize marijuana passed through House committee with bipartisan support,” she said. “I’ll say it again: we can’t legalize marijuana without addressing the injustices to people of color caused by the War on Drugs. My bill would do just that.”
Last week, my bill to legalize marijuana passed through House committee with bipartisan support.
I’ll say it again: we can't legalize marijuana without addressing the injustices to people of color caused by the War on Drugs. My bill would do just that.
— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) November 26, 2019
Then-Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), another former presidential candidate, criticized Harris’s prosecutorial record during a Democratic debate in August 2019. In a follow-up interview, the senator evaded a question about the exchange, dismissing the critique by stating that “I’m obviously a top tier candidate and so I did expect that I would be on the stage and take hits tonight because there are a lot of people that are trying to make the stage for the next debate.”
The Bay Area News Group analyzed the marijuana prosecution record of Harris and said the findings demonstrate that her history “is more nuanced than those debate-stage confrontations indicate.”
Days after Biden said he doesn’t support adult-use legalization because marijuana could be a gateway to more dangerous drugs, Harris tweeted “marijuana isn’t a gateway drug and should be legalized.”
Let's be clear: marijuana isn't a gateway drug and should be legalized. Glad to see my bill with Rep. Nadler take the next step in the House this week. https://t.co/d6BcMFlpYT
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) November 18, 2019
The candidate said that cannabis legalization is an example of an issue she’s changed her mind on over time during an interview with NowThis.
‘We all will rise or fall together.’ — Sen. @KamalaHarris talks her big middle-class tax cut, her evolving cannabis stance, and the ‘Star Wars’ actor that left her starstruck
Watch Harris answer all of our '20 Questions for 2020.' pic.twitter.com/C7gFgTh7Q1
— NowThis Impact (@nowthisimpact) July 9, 2019
“The whole war on drugs was a complete failure,” she said during an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. “That approach is the gateway to America’s problem with mass incarceration.” She didn’t directly answer a question about what made her change her mind about cannabis reform from prior opposition to legalization, however.
“The criminalization of marijuana has been such a big part of what has fueled America’s system of mass incarceration,” she said.
‘The criminalization of marijuana has been such a big part of what has fueled America's system of mass incarceration’ — @KamalaHarris explains why she supports legalizing cannabis pic.twitter.com/kI8kuM0ld2
— NowThis Impact (@nowthisimpact) November 18, 2019
“There are thousands of people labeled felons for life for selling marijuana, while people out there are making a fortune from the marijuana industry,” the senator said. “This is an injustice, and as president, I’ll fix it.”
Prior to a House vote on legislation to protect banks that service cannabis businesses, Harris joined then-Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and fellow presidential contenders Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in expressing concern about approving cannabis bills that would largely benefit the industry without first passing comprehensive legalization legislation.
I agree. We shouldn’t do this without addressing the reality that people of color are being shut out of the legal marijuana industry.
That means not only legalizing marijuana but also expunging criminal records and providing a path for people of color to enter the industry. https://t.co/M1Ri1iDKra
— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) September 21, 2019
“We shouldn’t do this without addressing the reality that people of color are being shut out of the legal marijuana industry,” she said of the banking bill. “That means not only legalizing marijuana but also expunging criminal records and providing a path for people of color to enter the industry.”
Following the vote in favor of the legislation, Harris tweeted that the reform is “important, but it’s not enough” and that we “need to legalize marijuana at the federal level, expunge criminal records, and create paths for people of color to enter the legal marijuana industry.”
Last week, the House passed a bill to give marijuana businesses access to banking. That’s important, but it's not enough.
We need to legalize marijuana at the federal level, expunge criminal records, and create paths for people of color to enter the legal marijuana industry.
— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) September 29, 2019
“We must ensure that as marijuana becomes a bigger business, we are committing ourselves to rebuilding communities that have been disproportionately targeted by failed drug policies and creating a diverse industry going forward,” she wrote in an op-ed for CNN. “If we fail to address a system that has historically been infected by racial bias, communities of color will continue to shoulder the devastating impacts of the past.”
“Times have changed. We must get smart on marijuana reform and give everyone the opportunity to reap the benefits that come from the legal marijuana industry,” she said.
After Illinois’s governor signed a marijuana legalization bill in June 2019, Harris said she’s thankful that “states like Illinois are stepping up to correct the mistakes of our past” and that it’s “time to do the same at the federal level.”
Thankful states like Illinois are stepping up to correct the mistakes of our past. It’s time to do the same at the federal level. https://t.co/FHZuTYS8do
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) July 1, 2019
“As the marijuana industry continues to grow, there are people of color sitting behind bars for doing the exact same thing. It’s time we changed the system,” Harris said at a conference in April 2019, adding that those most impacted by the war on drugs should be prioritized when it comes to job opportunities in the legal industry.
As the marijuana industry continues to grow, there are people of color sitting behind bars for doing the exact same thing. It's time we changed the system. #SheThePeople2020 pic.twitter.com/7KotnCqihx
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) April 24, 2019
She also pledged to pardon some non-violent drug offenders if elected president.
“We have to have the courage to recognize that there are a lot of folks who have been incarcerated who should not have been incarcerated and are still in prison because they were convicted under draconian laws that have incarcerated them… for what is essentially a public health issue,” she said.
In November, Harris discussed the need for industry equity and joked about businesses claiming that rubbing CBD lotion all over one’s body is a cure-all.
The senator said that drug addiction should be treated as a health issue and “not in jails and prisons,” adding that people with prior cannabis convictions should be “first in line” to get jobs in the legal market.
Harris also said she would implement “mental health care on demand and drug treatment on demand.”
“As President of the United States, one of the things I will implement is that we have mental health care on demand and drug treatment on demand.”
– @KamalaHarris on the war on drugs, trauma, addiction, and mental health. #SheThePeople2020
— Women's March (@womensmarch) April 24, 2019
“Countless Americans have felt the devastating ramifications of the War on Drugs—millions still remain incarcerated to this day,” Harris said in March. “This is a matter of public health, drug addiction, and economic security. I’ll say it again as I did in 2008: it was a complete failure.”
Countless Americans have felt the devastating ramifications of the War on Drugs — millions still remain incarcerated to this day. This is a matter of public health, drug addiction, and economic security. I’ll say it again as I did in 2008: it was a complete failure. pic.twitter.com/WLjk5dMp1b
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) March 9, 2019
“Our justice system continues to target and imprison young Black and Latinx Americans at high levels due to outdated, unjust marijuana laws,” she wrote. “I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: we must legalize marijuana across the country.”
Our justice system continues to target and imprison young Black and Latinx Americans at high levels due to outdated, unjust marijuana laws. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: we must legalize marijuana across the country.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) April 26, 2019
She also discussed her views on marijuana and drug policy during a campaign stop in New Hampshire in July 2019.
“We have to treat it as a public health issue, specifically on the issue of marijuana,” Harris said. “We incarcerated whole entire populations, in particular young men of color, for possessing marijuana, and they ended up being felons for life on an issue that was literally—if you look at it just in terms of the disparities in terms of who was arrested, who was incarcerated and who was abusing—it was just wrong.”
During a speech announcing her 2020 presidential candidacy, Harris said, “Once and for all, we have got to call drug addiction what it is: a national, public health emergency. And what we don’t need is another war on drugs.”
As Biden’s 2020 Running Mate
Harris stressed in August 2019 that there would be a “policy that is going to be about decriminalizing marijuana” in a Biden administration.
She also said the following month that the administration won’t be “half-steppin’” with “incrementalism” as far as criminal justice reform is concerned. That said, Harris stopped short of pledging marijuana legalization, saying they would only decriminalize cannabis and expunge prior records.
The then-senator made a habit of raising the decriminalization and expungements pledge after joining the ticket with Biden.
In September 2020, she again made the pledge to enact that reform if the pair were elected. That, of course, has not come to fruition.
At a vice presidential debate with then-vice presidential candidate Mike Pence, she made the same promise—though she seemed uneasy when she was attacked over her own drug enforcement record as a prosecutor.
Harris said in October 2020 that the administration would have “a commitment to decriminalizing marijuana and expunging the records of people who have been convicted of marijuana offenses.”
She similarly said that she has a “deal” with Biden to candidly share feedback on policy issues where they disagree, including on cannabis legalization.
At campaign events in Texas and Nevada, Harris reaffirmed that decriminalization would be a priority if the Democratic ticket is elected. She made the same comments in another interview, adding that the pair will be “making sure no one is put behind bars just because they’ve used drugs.”
Harris even attempted to crack her own marijuana joke during an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, though the late night host didn’t seem especially amused.
In her book, The Truths We Hold, she took her message in support of legalization a step further. Not only should we “legalize marijuana and regulate it,” but we should also “expunge nonviolent marijuana-related offenses from the records of millions of people who have been arrested and incarcerated so they can get on with their lives,” Harris wrote.
“We also need to stop treating drug addiction like a public safety crisis instead of what it is: a public health crisis,” she also wrote, suggesting she may be in favor of broader drug policy reforms. “When someone is suffering from addiction, their situation is made worse, not better, by involvement in the criminal justice system.”
It’s past time America legalized marijuana and regulated it. But when doing so, we need to expunge nonviolent marijuana-related offenses from the records of millions of people who have been arrested and incarcerated so they can get on with their lives.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) January 10, 2019
U.S. Senator (2017-2021)
Harris has talked quite a bit about marijuana in speeches and on social media.
When then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded the Cole memo, which provided guidance on federal marijuana enforcement priorities, she said the Justice Department shouldn’t be focused on “going after grandma’s medicinal marijuana.”
California needs federal support in dealing with transnational criminal organizations. What we don’t need is Jeff Sessions going after grandma’s medicinal marijuana.
— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) January 5, 2018
Sessions should be focusing on issues like transnational criminal organizations and investigating and prosecuting human trafficking, not going after Californians who are using recreational and medicinal marijuana.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) January 8, 2018
“This administration and Jeff Sessions want to take us back to the dark ages,” Harris said at the Center for American Progress Ideas Conference in 2017. “Sessions has threatened that the United States Department of Justice may renew its focus on marijuana use even as states like California, where it is legal.”
“Well, let me tell you what California needs, Jeff Sessions,” she said. “We need support in dealing with transnational criminal organizations, dealing with issues like human trafficking—not going after grandma’s medicinal marijuana. Leave her alone.”
Harris hadn’t signed onto any marijuana reform legislation during the time she was going after Sessions. But she was using the battle to solicit signatures on a petition, a common tactic that politicians use to build email lists that they can later use for fundraising. Several House members pressured her and then-Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) to take stronger action by blocking Justice Department nominees until the Cole memo was restored.
The senator has repeatedly called for federal cannabis decriminalization, characterizing existing laws as “regressive policies” that have “ruined” many lives.
It’s time to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level. It’s time to stop repeating the same mistakes of the past.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) April 20, 2018
Decriminalizing marijuana at the federal level isn’t just the smart thing to do, it’s also the right thing to do. We can’t keep repeating the same mistakes of the past. Too many lives have been ruined by these regressive policies.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) August 14, 2018
“We need to decriminalize marijuana,” she said. “We have a problem of mass incarceration in our country. And let’s be clear, the war on drug was a failed war. It was misdirected.”
Decriminalizing marijuana at the federal level isn’t just a smart thing to do —it’s the right thing to do. We can’t keep repeating the same mistakes of the past. Too many lives have been ruined by these regressive policies.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) December 11, 2018
She has also criticized the federal government for blocking military veterans’ access to medical cannabis.
“As states moves toward legalizing marijuana, let’s remember how many lives have been ruined because of our regressive policies,” Harris wrote. “We must focus on restorative justice.”
As states moves toward legalizing marijuana, let's remember how many lives have been ruined because of our regressive policies. We must focus on restorative justice.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) December 11, 2018
In a 2017 interview with Rolling Stone, Harris said “I started my career as a baby prosecutor during the height of the crack epidemic—not all drugs are equal.”
“We have over-criminalized so many people, in particular poor youth and men of color, in communities across this country and we need to move it on the schedule,” she said. “Plus we need to start researching the effect of marijuana and we have not been able to do it because of where it is on the schedule.”
Harris congratulated Canada on its national legalization of marijuana in 2018.
Congratulations to Canada on moving forward with the legalization of marijuana. As the world moves forward, we can’t afford to keep making the same mistakes of the past — it’s time to legalize marijuana at the federal level.https://t.co/BnUKR2fErF
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) June 22, 2018
Curiously, however, Harris also has had a habit of referring to the war on drugs in the past tense—as if it isn’t the case that hundreds of thousands of people in the U.S. are still being arrested for cannabis and other drugs every year.
The war on drugs was an abject failure which affects all of our communities, especially those struggling. We can’t turn the clock back. https://t.co/5b2fH4aBap
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) May 16, 2017
The war on drugs was a failure. It criminalized what is a public health matter. It was a war on poor communities more than anything.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) April 21, 2017
“The war on drugs was a failure,” she said in 2017. “It criminalized what is a public health matter. It was a war on poor communities more than anything.”
She also accused Sessions of “resuscitating” the drug war.
During her time as a prosecutor, Harris said she “saw the war on drugs up close, and let me tell you, the war on drugs was an abject failure.”
“It offered taxpayers a bad return on investment, it was bad for public safety, it was bad for budgets and our economy, and it was bad for people of color and those struggling to make ends meet,” she said.
The fact is, the War on Drugs did not work.
— Kamala Harris (@SenKamalaHarris) May 16, 2017
California Attorney General (2011-2017)
“I’ll tell you what standing up for the people also means,” Harris said in 2015. “It means challenging the policy of mass incarceration by recognizing the war on drugs was a failure. And Democrats, on that point, let’s be clear also: now is the time to end the federal ban on medical marijuana. It is.”
Before Harris backed full legalization or federal decriminalization, she was supportive of rescheduling cannabis under the Controlled Substances Act. Asked about the policy in 2016, she said “I would work to remove marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule II.”
“We need to reform our criminal justice system and changing the marijuana classification and drug sentencing laws are part of that effort.”
At a debate that year, she predicted that California voters would approve full legalization via a ballot measure (which they did) and reiterated that “we have to do is move [marijuana] from Schedule I to Schedule II.”
“We have incarcerated a large number of predominantly African American and Latino men in this country for possession and use at a very small scale of one of the least dangerous drugs in the schedule,” she said.
It is worth noting that Harris did not publicly endorse California’s successful 2016 cannabis legalization ballot initiative, though it is unknown how she personally voted on the measure.
Two years earlier, Harris told BuzzFeed that while she wasn’t ready to back the idea of legalization, she was “not opposed” to it and that there was “a certain inevitability about it.”
“It would be easier for me to say, ‘Let’s legalize it, let’s move on,’ and everybody would be happy. I believe that would be irresponsible of me as the top cop,” she said. “The detail of these things matters… I don’t have any moral opposition to it or anything like that. Half my family’s from Jamaica.”
Harris’s overall evolution on cannabis can be neatly summed up with two videos. The first shows her being asked about marijuana legalization in 2014 in light of her Republican opponent for attorney general supporting it. She dismissively laughs off the question.
The second shows Harris during a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing pressing President Donald Trump’s attorney general nominee, William Barr, on whether he’d use Justice Department funds to go after marijuana businesses acting in compliance with state law.
HARRIS: You do not intend to use fed resources to enforce fed marijuana law in states that have legalized?
BARR: “That’s right. But I think i’s incumbent on the Congress to make a decision as to whether we are going to have a federal system.” pic.twitter.com/owWekY9PqP
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 15, 2019
Personal Experience With Marijuana
Harris revealed in a radio interview in February 2019 that she smoked marijuana in college while listening to Tupac and Snoop Dogg, saying, “It gives a lot of people joy, and we need more joy in the world.”
But that admission sparked a small controversy, with several people pointing out that neither artist had released their debut albums prior to Harris graduating. She conceded in November 2019 that she “ definitely was not clear about what I was listening to” while consuming cannabis.
In a separate interview in 2019, the senator said that she knows people who have benefited from using medical cannabis.
Harris said during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live in June 2024 that she was shocked to learn there’s a strain of marijuana named after her, but she’s not planning to try it anytime soon.
Marijuana Under A Harris Administration
If Harris secures the Democratic presidential nomination and goes on to win the election, that would mark a paradigm shift, with the first president to take office who openly supports legalizing marijuana.
While she didn’t always hold that position, she became a vocal supporter of reform in the Senate and extended that to her time in the White House. As the former sponsor of a legalization bill, she’s also dedicated significant time to learning about the nuances of cannabis policy issues. For all intents and purposes, a Harris administration would likely be a boon for the reform movement.
Of course, the president is limited in what they can unilaterally achieve, so the prospect of legalization may hinge on the composition of Congress. If Democrats manage to retake the House and keep the Senate, however, it stands to reason that federal marijuana policy could meaningfully shift with a pro-legalization president.
This stands in contrast to the prospect of a second Trump administration. Former President Donald Trump has signaled support for states’ rights to set their own cannabis laws, but he hasn’t backed total legalization. His recently announced vice presidential running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), hold similar views, and he also voted against a bipartisan marijuana banking reform bill in September 2023.
Where Presidential Candidate Donald Trump Stands On Marijuana