Vice President Harris pledges Black jobs in federal marijuana legalization

Vice President Kamala Harris is pledging to legalize adult-use marijuana nationwide if she is elected in November and says she will ensure Black Americans will have “opportunities” to “access wealth and jobs” in a federally legal market.

The Democratic presidential nominee pitched marijuana legalization as part of an “Opportunity Agenda for Black Men” as she seeks to shore up support from that key demographic ahead of next month’s election and campaigns in swing states where cannabis reform is generally popular.

Marijuana a presidential battleground?

For the first time in U.S. history, both major-party candidates openly support federal marijuana legalization.

Republican nominee Donald Trump said in early September that he plans to vote for adult-use legalization in Florida, where he’s registered to vote.

The former president also endorsed the Biden administration’s rescheduling effort in which marijuana could be downgraded from a Schedule 1 drug to Schedule 3.

That likely would unlock tax benefits for plant-touching businesses.

But Harris went a little further than Trump in laying out a vision for federal legalization that’s consistent with the social equity-minded vision she laid out as a U.S. senator.

Harris vows to adult use will be ‘law of the land’

If elected, Harris said, she’ll work with Congress “to ensure that the safe cultivation, distribution, and possession of recreational marijuana is the law of the land,” according to a statement from her campaign.

“She will also fight to ensure that as the national cannabis industry takes shape, Black men – who have, for years, been overpoliced for marijuana use – are able to access wealth and jobs in this new market,” the statement continued.

Harris appeared at a rally in Pennsylvania on Monday night after meeting with Black business owners.

Her legalization promise follows a direct appeal to Black male voters that former President Barack Obama made last week at a separate rally in Pennsylvania, where an adult-use legalization bill remains bottled up in the state Legislature.

Minority participation in the legal marijuana industry remains an elusive goal.

Nonwhite ownership of U.S. cannabis businesses was less than 19% in 2023, according to MJBizDaily‘s report, “Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in the Cannabis Industry.”