The 2024 presidential election is just weeks away. Campaigns have been busier than ever as the candidates work to court undecided voters crucial to victory. Today, Vice President Kamala Harris unveiled an “opportunity agenda” directed explicitly at Black men—and one piece of that agenda centers on cannabis.
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If elected, Harris promises to fully legalize marijuana nationwide “to break down unjust legal barriers that hold Black men and other Americans back.” The vice president pledged to work “with Congress to ensure that the safe cultivation, distribution, and possession of recreational marijuana is the law of the land.”
The campaign promise reiterates sentiments Harris expressed on a podcast last week.
“I just feel strongly (that) people should not be going to jail for smoking weed. And we know historically what that has meant and who has gone to jail,” the vice president said on All The Smoke, likely referring to the disproportionate incarceration of minorities for cannabis crimes.
“We have come to a point where we have to understand that we need to legalize it and stop criminalizing this behavior,” she added.
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The promise to fully legalize cannabis at the federal level is a departure from Harris’s predecessor, President Joe Biden. The Biden administration had kick-started the process of rescheduling cannabis, a type of reform that could benefit cannabis businesses and researchers but would not make the plant legal. The vice president’s agenda is seen as far more progressive in the eyes of cannabis advocates.
Harris’s new round of proposals also states that, if elected, she will help distribute 1 million loans of up to $20,000 that can be fully forgivable to Black entrepreneurs and others who have strong ideas for starting businesses. The vice president also wants to offer federal incentives to encourage more African American men to train to be teachers.
Other components of the agenda include directing funding toward combating sickle cell disease, diabetes, prostate cancer, mental health challenges, and other health issues that disproportionately affect Black men. Harris also calls out regulating cryptocurrency and protecting investors in digital assets.
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The vice president unveiled the plan ahead of a Monday visit to Erie, Pennsylvania, where she will visit a Black-owned small business and hold a campaign rally. Her push comes after former President Barack Obama suggested last week that some Black men “aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman as president.”
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has stopped short of endorsing federal legalization but has stated he does support rescheduling, safe banking access for cannabis businesses, and states’ rights to enact reform. With weed being an important issue for voters (especially in swing states), the Harris campaign hopes her stance will be key to a victory come November.
*The Associated Press contributed to this report.
