Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) supports the Trump administration’s move to reschedule marijuana under federal law—but she also worries that enacting incremental cannabis reforms without equity and social justice measures will leave behind many people who have been harmed by criminalization.
“This has always been an issue kind of at the heart of decriminalization,” the congresswoman told Marijuana Moment in an interview on the Capitol Steps on Wednesday.
“Many of the people who profited from the war on drugs will then profit also—double down on that profit—from legalization,” she said. “And then the folks who were criminalized and had their lives destroyed by the war on drugs never get to see justice or have that made right. So I think that is a fundamental difference that we have here in the approach to that.”
The Department of Justice announced last week that marijuana products regulated by a state medical cannabis license immediately moved to Schedule III, as did any marijuana products that are approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). An administrative hearing scheduled for this summer will consider broader cannabis rescheduling.
“Of course, I will always welcome a descheduling of marijuana from Schedule I,” Ocasio-Cortez told Marijuana Moment on Wednesday. “I will be supportive of that, because it reduces that harm, but it doesn’t quite make all the wrongs right.”
The congresswoman has previously voted for and cosponsored legislation to federally legalize and tax marijuana while creating a new federal Office of Cannabis Justice to oversee social equity programs for the cannabis industry.
She has also been a lead sponsor of legislation to facilitate expungement of past cannabis convictions.
Ocasio-Cortez has additionally discussed her support for decriminalizing psychedelics.
The LCB contributed reporting from Washington, D.C.
