Despite President Trump (R) previously expressing support for rescheduling cannabis at the federal level, the first messaging on cannabis policy out of the second Trump Administration is that “no action is being considered at this time,” according to a CNN report. The statement was attributed to an unnamed White House official.
Outside of an official fact sheet last month deriding Washington D.C.’s local cannabis decriminalization policy as having caused “disorder” in the nation’s capital, the White House had been otherwise silent on the cannabis issue since taking office.
According to the report, a pro-cannabis political action committee called American Rights and Reform PAC is planning to spend over $1 million on pro-cannabis advertisements near the White House and the president’s Mar-a-Lago resort, hoping to influence President Trump toward the reforms. Additionally, the ads will play on two of the president’s favorite talking points, including:
- Disparaging the previous Biden Administration’s accomplishments (noting how Biden failed to fulfill his campaign pledge to enact significant cannabis reforms), and
- Claiming that Canada is cashing in on U.S. cannabis prohibition by allowing American cannabis firms to be publicly listed on its stock exchanges.
The president said during last year’s election that he supported the federal rescheduling process, and that he would vote “yes” on Florida’s adult-use cannabis legalization amendment.
Meanwhile, a Pew Research poll released last year found that nearly 90% of Americans support legalizing cannabis in some form (if not for recreational use, then for medicinal purposes) despite the plant remaining strictly prohibited under federal law.
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