Harris Campaign Accuses Trump Of Lying About Marijuana Reform Support, But Again Declines To Detail Her Own Platform

Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign is accusing former President Donald Trump of lying about his support for marijuana reform, arguing that his “blatant pandering” runs counter to his administration’s record on cannabis.

As Trump, the 2024 Republican nominee, promotes a pro-reform platform that involves support for federal rescheduling, industry banking access and a Florida marijuana legalization ballot initiative, a spokesperson for the Harris campaign said in a statement that “Donald Trump cannot paper over his extensive record of dragging marijuana reform backward.”

“As president, Trump cracked down on nonviolent marijuana offenses—undermining state legalization laws, opposed safe banking legislation, and even tried to remove protections for medical marijuana,” spokesperson Joseph Costello told NBC News on Monday. “Donald Trump does not actually believe in marijuana reform, but the American people are smart enough to see through his campaign lies.”

The comment appears to be at least somewhat exaggerated. While Trump faced criticism over his then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s decision to rescind Obama era guidance urging prosecutorial discretion in federal cannabis enforcement action, it did not lead to large-scale interference with state legalization laws. He also did not publicly oppose cannabis banking legislation.

Trump largely stayed true to his position that marijuana laws should be handled at the state-level, with no major crackdown on cannabis programs as some feared after the guidance was withdrawn. In fact, he criticized the top DOJ official and suggested the move should be reversed.

Also, while he was largely silent on the issue of legalization, he did tentatively endorse a bipartisan bill to codify federal policy respecting states’ rights to legalize.

That said, on several occasions he released signing statements on spending legislation stipulating that he reserved the right to ignore a long-standing rider that prohibits the Justice Department from using its funds to interfere with state-legal medical marijuana programs. That appears to be what the Harris spokesperson was referencing when he accused Trump of attempting to “remove protections for medical marijuana.”

Some advocates have cautioned against reading too far into Trump’s newfound support for various marijuana policy issues, which followed him meeting with the CEO of Trulieve Cannabis Corp., a large company that has provided the vast majority of funding in support of the Florida legalization campaign.

To be sure, it was just days after he indicated that he’d vote in favor of an abortion rights measure that will also appear on the Florida ballot that he reversed course, for example.

But while the Harris campaign seems willing to call out Trump on his marijuana platform, it’s been notably silent on the 2024 Democratic nominee’s own position—even though she privately reaffirmed her support for legalization during a roundtable event at the White House event with marijuana pardon recipients in March and also sponsored a bill to end federal prohibition during her time in the Senate.

Advocates have also taken notice that a new, long-awaited issues page launched by the Harris campaign omits any mention of marijuana policy reform despite her record promoting comprehensive legalization.

The overall silence on the issue from Harris’s end seems to have created an opening for Trump to seize the issue in recent weeks, culminating in a post he made on his social media site Truth Social on Sunday, where he embraced the Biden administration’s push to reschedule marijuana and also backed freeing up banks to work with state-legal cannabis businesses.

The prior Biden-Harris campaign had also made several prior attempts to contrast the administration’s marijuana reform actions with those of the Trump administration, emphasizing the role Sessions played in rescinding the cannabis enforcement guidance.

But since Harris became the nominee, it’s been Trump who’s been most vocal about his desire to see cannabis reform implemented. And given that polling shows voters, especially Democrats, are motivated to support candidates who embrace marijuana legalization, the omission of that position on her campaign issues page and in this latest campaign comment attacking Trump’s record are all the more glaring.

Following Trump’s recent announcement of support for the Florida cannabis legalization ballot measure, the campaign for Harris has worked to remind voters that while in office, Trump “took marijuana reform backwards.”

In a memo from a senior campaign spokesperson, the Harris campaign accused Trump of “brazen flip flops” on cannabis. The Democratic campaign says it’s one of the Republican former president’s “several bewildering ‘policy proposals’ that deserve real scrutiny.”

“On issue after issue, Trump is saying one thing after having done another,” the memo says. “For example: As a candidate in 2024, he suggests he is for decriminalizing marijuana – but as President, his own Justice Department cracked down on marijuana offenses.”

Again, however, the pushback against Trump on the issue wasn’t accompanied by any specific details about Harris’s marijuana platform.

Trump’s latest marijuana post follows up on one he made last month in which he indicated—but did not explicitly say—he supported Amendment 3 in Florida. The earlier comments predicted that Florida voters would approve the cannabis measure and generally discussed the benefits of legalization, but left some observers wanting more clarity on the former president’s position on the specific state initiative.

Trump also discussed the medical benefits of cannabis and said legalization would be “very good” for Florida in an interview with Lex Fridman last week.

Last month at a press conference, Trump told a reporter that he’s starting to “agree a lot more” that people should not be criminalized over marijuana given that it’s “being legalized all over the country”—adding that he would “fairly soon” reveal his position on the Florida ballot measure.

Meanwhile, longtime ally and GOP political operative Roger Stone, who is also a Florida resident and supports the legalization proposal, separately told Marijuana Moment that if Trump did ultimately endorse the measure it would “guarantee victory.”

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), who is sponsoring a bill to federally legalize marijuana called the States Reform Act, separately said that while she hoped Trump would back the Biden administration’s rescheduling move, she also said part of the reason Republicans in Congress have declined to embrace marijuana policy change is because they’re “afraid of it.”

Trump also recently went after Harris over her prosecutorial record on marijuana, claiming that she put “thousands and thousands of Black people in jail” for cannabis offenses—but the full record of her time in office is more nuanced.

Trump’s line of attack, while misleading, was nonetheless notable in the sense that the GOP presidential nominee implied that he disagrees with criminalizing people over marijuana and is moving to leverage the idea that Harris played a role in racially disproportionate mass incarceration.

Meanwhile, Harris selected Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) as her running mate, choosing a candidate who backed numerous cannabis reform measures in Congress, called for an end to prohibition when he was running for governor and then signed a comprehensive legalization bill into law in 2023.

Florida Marijuana Legalization Ballot Initiative Has Enough Support To Pass, New Poll Finds As Trump Backs Reform

Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis // Side Pocket Images.