Newly Elected Republican Senate Majority Leader Opposes Marijuana Legalization, Rescheduling And Industry Banking Access

Senate Republicans on Wednesday elected a new majority leader who not only opposes legalizing marijuana but has also called for a reversal of the Biden administration’s plan to reschedule cannabis and has criticized Democrats for working to increase the industry’s access to banking services.

Thune, who defeated Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Rick Scott (R-FL) in an election for the leadership slot, joined other GOP lawmakers in a letter in July challenging the current administration’s marijuana rescheduling push, urging that the policy proposal be trashed.

The rescheduling rule “fails to provide adequate science and data to support moving marijuana to schedule III and should not have been signed or published,” the letter Thune signed says, calling it “irresponsible” for federal health officials to “make this determination when emerging research shows that there are significant health concerns associated with marijuana use.”

The letter details Thune’s and other Republican lawmakers’ concerns about marijuana’s health effects, suggesting that there is a “clear association between cannabis use and psychosis, anxiety, cognitive failures, respiratory adverse events, cancer, cardiovascular outcomes and gastrointestinal disorders.”

It also claims that “sexual disfunction was twice as high in men who used marijuana” and that “marijuana use among veterans with PTSD was associated with worse PTSD symptoms, more violent behavior, and alcohol use.”

Beyond criticizing cannabis use and policy reform, the letter Thune signed further calls into question whether marijuana has any medical value.

“Medical marijuana dispensaries sell edibles and vapes that come in flavors like passion raspberry, blueberry calm, wild cherry, and sour apple,” it says. “Pretending that these products are medicine that can treat health conditions is doing a disservice to Americans.”

“It remains the case that marijuana has no currently accepted medical use,” Thune and his Republican colleague wrote. “The fact that states have labeled marijuana as ‘medicine’ does not change the nature of the drug… We urge you to withdraw this proposal and maintain marijuana as a schedule I drug.”

Separately, as Senate Democrats moved to advance a marijuana legalization bill in 2021, Thune said that cannabis reform is “something we’ll probably have to grapple with here.” But he’s consistently opposed even modest proposals to allow marijuana industry banking.

Earlier this year, Thune said attaching cannabis banking legislation to an aviation bill would be “a non-starter,” noting that Republican  opposition to the idea is “very strong.”

He called the then-Democratic-controlled House’s proposal to include marijuana banking reform in a large-scale coronavirus relief bill “crazy stuff” in 2020, complaining in a floor speech that the text of the underlying legislation mentions “cannabis” more times than “jobs.”

Was on the air with @hughhewitt this AM. We spoke about House Dems’ massive new spending package that’s really a grab bag of Dem agenda items disguised as #COVID19 relief. As was said, it mentions cannabis more times than it mentions jobs. Nobody is taking it seriously.

— Senator John Thune (@SenJohnThune) May 14, 2020

“In case Democrats didn’t realize, Americans aren’t suffering from a lack of cannabis right now,” Thune said in a speech on the Senate floor. “They’re suffering from a lack of employment.”

He also said that Democrats’ push to advance a marijuana legalization bill was a “great illustration of the gap in priorities.”

A great illustration of the gap in priorities:
While Republicans are continuing to negotiate on COVID relief, Democrats are holding votes on a Tiger King bill & legalizing cannabis.
Let’s get serious & do our job for Americans.

— Senator John Thune (@SenJohnThune) December 4, 2020

“While Republicans are continuing to negotiate on COVID relief, Democrats are holding votes on a Tiger King bill & legalizing cannabis,” he said. “Let’s get serious & do our job for Americans.”

Back in 2014, Thune said that while he understands that “people have strong opinions on both sides of this debate, I do not support legalizing the use of marijuana.”

“Currently, the medical benefits from the use of marijuana are still inconclusive, and I believe that we must be careful not to increase the availability of marijuana and the use of marijuana for non-medical reasons,” the senator said in a constituent letter. “However, I support the development of alternative medications that will provide relief to patients without opening the door to substance abuse.”

One more time for @HouseDemocrats in the back: This bill will not pass the Senate.

It shouldn’t pass. Look what’s in it:
– Taxpayer $$ for illegal immigrants
– Tells states how to handle their elections
– 68 mentions of “cannabis”

What does any of that have to do with #COVID19?

— Senator John Thune (@SenJohnThune) May 15, 2020

The next year, he called legalization a “dangerous path,” adding that voters who enacted the reform in Colorado are “going to pay a price for it.”

In 2021, Thune acknowledged that cannabis is an “area that’s still evolving, and our country’s views on it are evolving,” adding that “how we deal with it nationally I think is still an open question.”

“Medical’s getting big — the recreational not as big yet, but it’s growing — and there’ll be more initiatives on the ballot,” he said.

For what it’s worth, voters in Thune’s home state of South Dakota approved a marijuana legalization initiative at the ballot in 2020, but it was overturned by the state Supreme Court. Voters subsequently rejected legalization proposals in 2022 and 2024.

In Election’s Aftermath, Pennsylvania And Hawaii Appear Most Likely To Legalize Marijuana In 2025, Advocates Predict