There are a lot of reasons to vote. Frankly, you shouldn't make cannabis your No. 1 issue. You should vote regardless, but what if cannabis were your main reason to vote?
Cannabis is still illegal at the federal level, so where do our presidential candidates stand when it comes to weed?
Perhaps surprisingly, it's an issue where both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump can find common ground.
Both candidates have come out in support of legalization. Though, like many Americans, they weren't always this way.
Prior to her time as vice president and as a senator, Harris was a district attorney in California. During her time as the state's attorney general, Reuters reports that more than 2,000 people were incarcerated for cannabis-related crimes. The Golden State was one of the first, after Washington, to legalize recreational cannabis (in 2016), but Harris was publicly opposed to such a policy as recently as 2010.
In the years since, like Americans in general, her attitude has shifted.
"Nobody should have to go to jail for smoking weed," Harris said on X (formerly known as Twitter) in a post at 4:20 pm Eastern time, on April 20.
As vice president, Harris has helped oversee the most progressive federal cannabis platform of modern times, even if it has fallen short of legalization.
Her opponent in this presidential race, Trump, has a similarly unsteady background when it comes to cannabis, but has also solidified his stance as a pro-legalization candidate in recent years.
However, Trump was president for four years and did not legalize cannabis during that time. Federal cannabis policy really did not advance in any meaningful way during his time in office.
He had an opportunity to make change, but didn't. Though that's not to say he will stand in the way should change come.
Over the weekend, Trump signaled his support for a Florida ballot measure that would legalize recreational cannabis in the state.
"Whether people like it or not, this will happen through the approval of the voters, so it should be done correctly," Trump said on his social media platform, Truth Social.
When it comes to cannabis policy at the federal level, hoping for change is a fool's errand. But it is notable that both of these candidates have come out in support of cannabis legalization. Come November, there may not be a vote outright for cannabis, but there certainly won't be a vote against it. ♦
