Biden Should Come Out In Favor of Legalizing Marijuana, Not Just Rescheduling It
It's a popular idea that would appeal to young voters, left-wing voters, and swing voters, all at the same time
Dear readers,
Democrats are leaning into “freedom” as a talking point, and for good reason: The Dobbs decision has made abortion bans an unpopular reality, and one of Democrats’ best issues in this election is that they are the party that seeks to block those bans and protect women’s freedom to have abortions. As Ron Brownstein wrote for CNN last month, this rhetorical focus on “freedom” allows Democrats to tie in abortion with other policies they want to emphasize — protecting IVF, fighting Republican restrictions on freedom of expression, restricting guns (framed as freedom from violence), and protecting the freedom to vote and actually have those votes be counted.
But there’s one big “freedom” issue available to the Biden-Harris campaign that they haven’t chosen to capitalize on, even though it would be popular: the freedom to use marijuana.
Some prominent Democrats have already taken up the issue — Sens. Chuck Schumer, Ron Wyden, and Cory Booker have reintroduced legislation that would repeal the federal prohibition on marijuana. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris haven’t joined them in support, but they should.
Yes, Biden’s Department of Justice is expected to recommend soon that marijuana be reclassified as a Schedule III drug instead of Schedule I. Eventually, this change will make it easier to conduct medical research with marijuana, ease certain tax difficulties facing marijuana businesses, and create a route to allow doctors to prescribe marijuana. But even after this change, recreational marijuana will remain illegal under federal law. This is despite the fact that 24 states have not only legalized marijuana but created formal markets for it.
It’s kind of an absurd situation. There is all this ongoing commerce that is sanctioned by states even as it is prohibited by federal law; that federal prohibition creates a variety of dysfunctions in states’ quasi-legal marijuana markets; yet Biden (like Trump) still doesn’t want to repeal the federal law prohibiting marijuana, even though he also isn’t really trying to enforce it. Why not legalize and bring policy into line with practice?
Given that in practice the federal law is largely not being enforced, one obvious question is whether federal prohibition is important. Prohibition still matters in part because it makes it unduly difficult for legitimate marijuana businesses to operate and for states to set up functional legal markets. Being illegal adds cost — institutional investors stay away, which increases the cost of capital; financial institutions are reluctant to provide services, forcing businesses to handle large amounts of cash at significant risk and expense; federal tax law disfavors illegal businesses, preventing marijuana operators from deducting many ordinary business expenses. Those added costs are a barrier for businesses entering states’ legal markets, and this is one of the reasons that robust black markets in marijuana persist even in states that have legalized — operators can avoid all those costs (plus state excise taxes) by continuing to operate illegally.
And, the level of federal enforcement is not zero, and so we continue to invest law enforcement resources and incarcerate people in a fight against a drug that few people actually seem to want to prohibit anymore. So I do think there is some juice in the issue.
Plus, as you may recall, the Biden team is worried about the youth vote. According to Bloomberg News, they’re considering a really stupid idea to try to get young voters excited about Biden: declaring a “climate emergency” shortly before the election, which “could be used to curtail crude exports, suspend offshore drilling and curb greenhouse gas emissions.” Taking high-salience action right before the election to push up energy prices is such an idiotic idea that I can’t imagine anyone with actual power in the White House is considering it seriously.1 Still, that the proposal is even being floated reflects that a zombie idea persists among Democratic operatives: that Joe Biden’s “problem voter” is a disillusioned youth activist upset with the administration for not being left enough on climate and Gaza, rather than a less-engaged, less-ideological voter who’s upset about inflation.
As I wrote about earlier this week, it’s those normie young voters that might actually vote for Trump in the end, and those voters — not the ones arrested for protesting on the campuses of this country’s top universities this week — are the ones who matter most, and so Biden needs to find “youth vote” issues that can make headway in the middle, not just with the left flank of his party.
I’m not under the illusion that federal marijuana law is a high-salience issue for a large number of voters. But unlike climate change and Gaza, it’s an issue where Biden could appeal to his base and to swing voters at the same time. Legal marijuana is popular — in a January poll, 57% told Pew the drug should be legal for both recreational and medical use. It’s especially popular with young voters (71% of respondents aged 18-29 favor legal recreational marijuana) and with liberal Democrats (84% support). It also has a decent amount of crossover appeal — 42% of Republicans are now in favor of legalization. Broadly, the polling looks similar to the polling on same-sex marriage: strong overall support, a unified Democratic Party coalition in favor, and a divided Republican vote. And I think Democrats realize now that same-sex marriage has become a winning issue for them. Why haven’t they learned the same about marijuana?
The other reason I’m surprised Biden hasn’t come around on marijuana is that it’s an obvious way to fight his image as an old fart. If he endorses legalization, he’ll be on the side of progress and of youth. He’ll be able to argue that he’s tossing out old orthodoxies that led us to imprison too many people. And he’ll seem cooler.
The usual theory I hear about why Democratic politicians don’t come around to supporting legal marijuana is that they’re old, and they came of age politically in a time when supporting any legal drug would have made them seem “soft on crime” and lose elections.2 But I don’t think this makes a lot of sense as an explanation. First of all, a lot of old Democrats have endorsed marijuana legalization, including Schumer, age 73. And old age did not stop Democrats from coming around on same-sex marriage as the political incentives around the issue changed. Biden even played a key role in shoving substantially-younger Barack Obama out of the closet as a same-sex marriage supporter. So I don’t think his age is a good explanation for his failure to adapt with changing social attitudes.
Let me try addressing him directly: Mr. President, I see an opportunity for you to move yourself closer to the median voter, align yourself with progressive activists, make yourself appear cooler to younger voters, and put Donald Trump in the awkward position of having to respond on an issue that divides his political coalition, all at the same time. At the margin, it will help you get re-elected, and as you’ve been out there saying, it’s really important for the future of our democracy that you win this election. And it won’t even do that much to change the policy situation as it’s experienced on the ground. So please: endorse legal marijuana and call on Congress to send you a law to make it happen.
Very seriously,
Josh
I’m especially skeptical because the White House has otherwise demonstrated a focus on managing voter anger about energy prices. For example, they have been discouraging Ukraine from attacking Russian oil production facilities, a sign that they know they need to de-prioritize other goals, even really important ones, in favor of low and stable gasoline prices. How could the same White House that understands that also come out and try to shut down offshore drilling in the run-up to an election? It wouldn’t make any sense.
Hillary Clinton also has never endorsed federal legalization; neither has Barack Obama, though he inched toward doing so in an interview with Rolling Stone during his lame-duck period after the 2016 election.
Even if you don’t favor marijuana legalization, it’s just logically absurd that cigarettes and alcohol are legal in this country and not marijuana.
But I also agree on the political merits here: There is a lot to be gained with little risk.
I voted to legalize medical marijuana in Oklahoma a few years back. But it has led to increased organized crime, especially involving Chinese nationals. I'm not sure of the right public policy approach, but I'm much more suspicious of efforts to legalize marijuana than I used to be and want a to hear a thorough discussion of the issues.