President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for U.S. attorney general instantly excited many marijuana industry stakeholders based on his record of supporting cannabis legalization. But well before Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) was even considered a potential candidate, he’d already previewed his plans if he was chosen to lead the Department of Justice: “Go easy on marijuana.”
Gaetz, who resigned from his House seat this week after Trump tapped him for the nation’s top law enforcement position, was among the only GOP members of Congress who voted for a Democratic-led cannabis legalization bill. He did so twice, and he’s also backed other more modest reforms such as marijuana industry banking access.
Trump’s decision to select him for the attorney general role took many, including congressional colleagues and insiders, by surprise. But for marijuana stakeholders, it was a welcome choice in the sense that it signaled state cannabis markets would likely continue to see a policy of non-interference from the federal government and that Biden administration’s plans to reschedule marijuana would proceed despite the White House changeup.
Gaetz’s ascent to attorney general is not guaranteed. The congressman, who was under Justice Department investigation and the subject of a GOP-led committee’s ethics probe over various allegations, will still need to be confirmed by the Senate or otherwise ascend to the job via a recess appointment. Even with Senate Republicans having won a majority, it’s unclear if controversies related to the investigations, as well as his role in ousting former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), will jeopardize his potential confirmation.
Beyond his votes in support of a legalization bill—the Marijuana, Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act—and other pro-reform actions he took in Congress, Gaetz also previously commented on how he’d approach cannabis issues as attorney general.
“I figure in the next term of Donald Trump—whether that’s in 2021 or 2025—that he ought to pick me to be the attorney general,” he said in 2020. “I’d go easy on marijuana, tough on big tech and I would go after the deep state. Wouldn’t that be a nice reversal?”
He made a similar comment at a New York Young Republicans event later that year, again committing to “be easy on marijuana and tough on big tech” if he became attorney general.
FLASHBACK; Matt Gaetz speaking about possibly being Attorney General: pic.twitter.com/FJT2Dnejlr
— Henry Rodgers (@henryrodgersdc) November 13, 2024
Gaetz’s placement as attorney general would be historic in that he’d be the first to hold that position who’s proactively embraced legalization. But it’s also the case that “go easy on marijuana” has generally been DOJ’s policy across the last several administrations, including former President Barack Obama, Trump in his first term and President Joe Biden. Also, for the past decade under an annually approved congressional appropriations rider, the department has been barred from using its funds to interfere in state medical cannabis programs.
While cannabis industry investors are largely excited by the Gaetz news, some policy reform advocates have so far been largely reluctant to endorse the choice, despite the stark contrast to Trump’s first attorney general when he started his first term in 2017. Then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions vociferously opposed cannabis reform and rescinded Obama-era guidance that generally urged prosecutorial discretion in federal marijuana enforcement.
Marijuana Moment reached out to multiple drug policy reform groups for comment. The Marijuana Policy Project and Drug Policy Alliance declined, while NORML’s representative was not immediately available.
Others in the space have strongly endorsed the choice, however.
“The nomination of Matt Gaetz to be attorney general is Exhibit A that president-elect Trump plans to keep his campaign promises regarding cannabis policy,” Don Murphy, a cannabis lobbyist and former GOP Maryland legislator, told Marijuana Moment on Thursday. “Have we ever been closer to the end of cannabis prohibition? I don’t think so.”
Meanwhile, as part of the inquiry into Gaetz by the House Ethics Committee, which lost jurisdiction over the matter after the congressman resigned, he told members in a letter this summer that he has “not used drugs which are illegal, absent some law allowing use in a jurisdiction of the United States,” and has “not used ‘illicit’ drugs, which I consider to be drugs unlawful for medical or over-the-counter use everywhere in the United States.”
The nuanced verbiage led some to wonder whether he was carving out an exception for marijuana use in a jurisdiction that has legalized it. It is also worth noting that certain psychedelics have also been legalized in Colorado and Oregon.
Meanwhile, Gaetz also said last year that he’s concerned that if the federal government doesn’t “go further” than simply moving marijuana to a lower drug schedule, large pharmaceutical companies might be able to overtake the cannabis industry.
Delist Cannabis https://t.co/UXuDODca3J
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) August 26, 2024
While Gaetz voted in favor of a federal legalization bill, he actually departed from Trump on a state-level measure to legalize adult-use cannabis in Florida that failed at the ballot this month. Unlike Trump, who endorsed the measure, the congressman said in August that the reform should be enacted statutorily so that there’s more flexibility for the legislature to adjust the law in the future.
“Regardless of how someone feels about abortion or marijuana, I don’t believe that those issues should be resolved in the state Constitution,” he said.
The congressman pointed out that a limited medical cannabis bill—which he sponsored during his time in the Florida legislature—“had lots of flaws” that required fixes that would have been more difficult to address if the policy change had been written into the state Constitution.
Gaetz also joined Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and lawyer John Morgan in 2019 to advocate for expanding the medical marijuana bill he helped usher into law by making it so patients had access to smokable products.
In Congress, Gaetz has on two occasions voted in favor of a bipartisan marijuana banking bill to ensure that financial institutions are protected from being penalized by federal regulators simply for working with state-legal cannabis businesses.
He further sponsored amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would have eliminated language preventing military branches for testing recruits for cannabis for enlistment or commission.
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