US Cannabis advocates will back Democrats

Significance The move follows Biden’s 2020 campaign pledge to reform cannabis policy and a policy review by the federal Health and Human Services Department commissioned in 2022. Biden presented the rescheduling as “monumental” and “an important move toward reversing longstanding inequities”. Impacts The rescheduling will not end all federal tensions with the 24 US states that have introduced recreational cannabis markets. Rescheduling will appeal to younger voters, but will not offset anger generated by issues such as the Gaza war. Republicans will leverage control of congressional committees to prevent the use of federal funds for rescheduling cannabis.