Kamala Kush - What Harris’ Entry in the Presidential Election Means for Pot in Wyoming

by Wyoming Liberty Group

Ever heard of Kamala Kush?

It's the dubious name of a strain of marijuana being peddled to the masses, and it's named after none other than Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for the president of the United States.

Sure, there have been late-night comedy jokes about this strain of weed. Even Harris herself has kidded about it.

But this is actually serious business.

In the blink of an eye, everything can change. We all know this. But it can still be stunning. That was the case when President Biden dropped his reelection bid and Kamala Harris, his vice president, took over. But perhaps less certain was what a Harris presidency would mean for Wyoming as it relates to marijuana, which remains illegal in the cowboy state.

After all, Harris' position on the mind-altering drug has evolved over the years. Some might say her stance didn't just evolve, that it radically shifted, giving voters the equivalent of whiplash. A term inevitably comes to mind: Political expediency.

Let's revisit Harris' political history to better understand how, should she be elevated to the highest office in the land, she might impact marijuana policy in our own state of Wyoming.

As the district attorney of San Francisco, Harris did support marijuana as medicine, legally speaking, even if it's a misnomer; weed ain't healthy. But Harris did oppose a 2010 initiative to legalize marijuana more broadly in California. Perhaps even more pertinent, Harris' office was responsible for the convictions of nearly 2,000 people in connection to marijuana. Indeed, it's been reported that prosecutors in her office more zealously pursued cases against people on marijuana charges compared to the district attorney before her.

When Harris ascended to the attorney general of California, she continued to go after people for pot and hashish offenses; over 2,000 people were jailed in the state during her tenure.

But then, the Harris winds began to shift. When she ran for reelection in 2014, she demurred when asked about her opponent's support for legalizing adult-use weed.

Harris' position moved even more dramatically just six years later when, as a U.S. senator, she jostled for position in the 2020 presidential election. Suddenly, she was pro-pot.

Soon after declaring for the presidency, she admitted that she had tried marijuana while she was a student in college.

What's more, Harris brought forward legislation that, among things, would decriminalize marijuana federally.

"Times have changed. Marijuana should not be a crime," Harris said then.

Strange coming from a former prosecutor who had put away so many people for those kinds of crimes. Or maybe not so odd for a candidate seeking to curry favor with young voters.

Harris' favorable opinion of marijuana has only grown since she has served as vice president and worked with Biden for reelection. Harris has wholeheartedly supported Biden's efforts to have marijuana rescheduled as a less dangerous drug, a move that would alter the position of marijuana for the first time in half a century, while also providing tax breaks for businesses marketing weed.

Indeed, you could make the argument that Harris has one-upped Biden as she called on federal authorities to speed up that reclassification of marijuana.

"Marijuana is considered as dangerous as heroin and more dangerous than fentanyl, which is absurd, not to mention patently unfair," Harris said.

Left unsaid is the fact that marijuana is in fact dangerous, causing all manner of hazards, including respiratory illnesses, psychotic breaks, brain development and pregnancy issues, drugged driving and ER visits.

No matter; Harris again made clear her transformation as an acolyte of the marijuana industry, demanding a "change to our nation's approach to marijuana."

Harris, reminded of her switcheroo on marijuana, has at least acknowledged a change of position, though she really had little choice, given her prior track record. She offered just this much—that she "had concerns" about pot. Not exactly a confession but, well, she is a politician, isn't she?

What the feds do about rescheduling marijuana remains up in the air, but what seems less uncertain is what a Harris presidency would mean for Wyoming and marijuana.

Some prognosticators have gone so far as to say that if Harris is elected president, she won't simply champion the rescheduling of marijuana as a less dangerous drug. They say she will go full throttle to deschedule marijuana altogether, removing the drug from the Controlled Substances Act. That would pave the way for marijuana to flood the streets of America everywhere, including in Wyoming.

What makes this move so troubling, some experts say, is that Harris's position isn't based on the known science of marijuana and the hazards that it presents. Rather, it's based on the unvarnished ambitions of politics.