Biden ‘Smokes’ Trump on Cannabis Policy, Campaign Claims After Rescheduling Announcement

In a bold move aimed at highlighting a significant policy shift, President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign declared that he “smokes” former President Donald Trump on marijuana policy. This statement came shortly after the administration announced a historic action to reschedule cannabis on Thursday.

Campaign Highlights Cannabis Rescheduling as a Major Achievement

Hours after President Biden announced the “monumental” step to reclassify cannabis, his campaign sent out an email blast underscoring the “stark contrast with the Trump administration’s failures and broken promises on criminal justice reform and marijuana.”

The campaign emphasized the Biden administration’s effort to move marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), contrasting this with Trump’s elimination of federal cannabis enforcement guidance.

Study Finds Cannabis Increases Productivity When Working Out

“Trump and his administration took marijuana reform backwards, withdrawing guidelines to limit prosecutions of marijuana offenses that were legal under state laws,” the campaign reiterated, referring to the rescission of the Cole Memorandum under Trump. This point was also made in a previous email promoting Vice President Kamala Harris’s roundtable event with cannabis pardon recipients at the White House.

Biden Campaign Promotes Cannabis Policy Success

“It’s simple, Joe Biden smokes sleepy Don on delivering for the American people,” stated Biden-Harris 2024 Spokesperson James Singer. “After four years of all talk, all failure from Donald Trump, Joe Biden is keeping his promise on marijuana policy, moving America forward, and making America safer.”

Singer added, “Donald Trump was wrong on marijuana policy and made America less safe, hurting young people and communities of color. Voters can’t afford the broken promises and dangerous failures of a second Trump term.”

Biden’s Campaign Promise and Ongoing Advocacy

While rescheduling marijuana was a 2020 campaign promise of Biden, advocates remain frustrated that he has yet to federally decriminalize cannabis as he pledged. Additionally, although the Biden administration criticizes Trump’s rescission of federal marijuana guidance, the Justice Department under Biden has not reissued updated guidance despite promises to do so.

Justice Department and Cannabis Rescheduling

The Justice Department announced that Attorney General Merrick Garland had officially initiated the formal rulemaking process, submitting the proposed rescheduling rule to the Federal Register to begin a 60-day public comment period. This action is being lauded as a historic step, recognizing for the first time in over 50 years that cannabis has accepted medical value and a lower abuse potential compared to other Schedule I drugs like heroin.

Leveraging Cannabis Reform Ahead of the Election

The Biden campaign’s emphasis on cannabis reform represents a strategic effort to leverage the popularity of marijuana policy changes ahead of the November election. President Biden and Vice President Harris have actively touted the rescheduling move on social media.

“No one should be jailed for simply using or possessing marijuana,” Biden reiterated on Friday. Harris highlighted the president’s mass pardons for individuals convicted of federal cannabis possession offenses, emphasizing the administration’s commitment to justice reform.

Biden Smokes Trump on Cannabis Policy

In the 2020 campaign and as President, Joe Biden has said no one should be in jail just for using or possessing marijuana.

President Biden is keeping his promise, delivering a historic victory for criminal justice and common-sense marijuana policy across America.

Today, the Biden administration reclassified marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule III drug, moving marijuana out of a classification higher than fentanyl and methamphetamine and removing long-standing barriers to critical research into medical benefits of marijuana that could help veterans, seniors, and people with chronic illnesses.

Broken Promises on Cannabis

Trump and his administration took marijuana reform backwards, withdrawing guidelines to limit prosecutions of marijuana offenses that were legal under state laws.

Crime Went Up

Under Trump, America was less safe. In 2020, violent crime rose and murder increased by 29.4%.

Police Reform Failures

Trump called for police officers to shoot shoplifters. As president, he inflamed tensions between the police and the communities they serve. He insisted police departments should use “stop and frisk” and sought to block local police reform. His administration also reduced oversight of police departments and repeatedly proposed cutting funding for local police departments and combating illicit drug flows.

Trump’s Project 2025 agenda

Pardon violent January 6 rioters while worsening racial inequity in the justice system, prosecute his political opponents, and criminalize abortion.

Statement from Biden-Harris 2024 Spokesperson James Singer

“It’s simple, Joe Biden smokes sleepy Don on delivering for the American people. After four years of all talk, all failure from Donald Trump, Joe Biden is keeping his promise on marijuana policy, moving America forward, and making America safer.

“Donald Trump was wrong on marijuana policy and made America less safe, hurting young people and communities of color. Voters can’t afford the broken promises and dangerous failures of a second Trump term.”