Vance Not a Friend of Weed

Published October 16th, 2024 at 12:00 am

Donald Trump’s vice presidential pick Sen. JD Vance seems to dislike weed, but it may not affect the election now that the issue has been pushed to the back burner.

Most of the cannabis rhetoric around the upcoming election has died down in recent weeks as the presidential race tightens. Depending on the poll, either side has a chance of winning the election, and both sides appear to have forgotten about the weed vote. During the recent vice presidential debate, moderators failed to ask either candidate about marijuana. Despite strong voter support for reforming policies around the drug, neither major party has been outspoken about its plans for marijuana.

Vice President Kamala Harris — who has advocated for cannabis policy reform during her tenure in the Biden administration — has remained mostly silent on the topic while on the campaign trail in recent months.

That could be because Trump recently flipped on the subject, saying he feels that no one should be in jail for marijuana and policy should be left up to states. This combined with Harris’ record of jailing Black cannabis users and opposing legalization while serving as California’s attorney general may make discussing the topic in any way too damaging for her campaign.

Harris’ vice presidential pick, Tim Walz, on the other hand, has an exemplary record of supporting cannabis reform. 

Vance’s weed history is often overlooked as well. Of the four individuals in this political soup, his position on marijuana is the most archaic.

Last November, voters in Vance’s home state of Ohio approved the legalization of adult-use marijuana with nearly 56% in favor. During an interview with conservative talk show host Bob Frantz, Vance said he would be voting “no” on legalization, saying he wanted to be able to take his kid to dinner without being “slammed in the face with the smell of weed.” He said places where recreational-use marijuana is legal are “like an open air drug market.”

He also claimed that when states legalize marijuana, traffic fatalities go up and usage among children goes up. 

However, in a sign of the times, Vance appeared to give soft support to decriminalization early on in the Frantz interview. 

“If you’re caught with a joint,” he said, “I don’t think you should be thrown in prison for it.”

A further sign of the times is how the Trump team responded to Vance’s weed position.

Last month, a 271-page dossier on Vance compiled by the Trump campaign was leaked as part of an alleged hack at the hands of the Iranian government. In the dossier, Vance’s position on legalization is listed under the section, “Vance’s Notable Vulnerabilities With Moderates.” The document cites an interview in which Vance said legalization increased use among the “lower class” and caused a number of “social problems.”

As a U.S. senator, Vance voted against the SAFER Banking Act, which would have allowed financial institutions to do business with marijuana companies without the danger of federal prosecution. The bill represents one of the few cannabis reforms supported by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle and considered a fairly modest reform backed by most moderates. 

Since then, Vance has gotten somewhat softer on marijuana, saying policies should be left up to individual states. That means between Trump, Harris, Walz and Vance, the most conservative view on marijuana is that it should be decriminalized at the federal level and left up to states to craft their own policies.

But don’t start buying streamers and noisemakers just yet. With Trump voicing support for weed reform and Harris avoiding the topic completely, the issue is likely to disappear altogether. Republicans — traditionally opposed to cannabis reform of any kind — are unlikely to highlight Trump’s progressive attitude toward the drug, and Democrats — traditionally the pro-weed party — are unlikely to allow the conversation to veer toward Harris’ ugly past. It would actually serve both parties to just ignore the issue for now.