GOP Congresswoman Predicts Marijuana Will Be Rescheduled ‘Right Before The Election,’ But She’s Not Sure If Trump Is On Board

A GOP congresswoman says she expects the Biden administration’s marijuana rescheduling proposal to be finalized “right before the election, because they want the cannabis votes.” And while she hopes former President Donald Trump will back the change, she also said part of the reason Republicans in Congress have declined to embrace marijuana reform is because they’re “afraid of it.”

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), who is sponsoring a bill to federally legalize marijuana called the States Reform Act, spoke about cannabis election politics, rescheduling prospects and more during an interview with The Dales Report on Monday.

Asked about whether she expects Trump will get behind marijuana reform in light of his recent comments indicating support for decriminalization as more states adopt legalization, Mace said she wasn’t sure. But she noted his past comments in favor of medical cannabis and said she “would like to hear support for rescheduling” from her party’s leader, especially considering that there’s a “statistically significant number of Republicans” in favor of those policies.

“There’s a lot of work to be done, and Republicans need to get on board, because the vast majority of Americans are with me, with you guys, on how to move forward in a very responsible manner,” Mace said during the marijuana-focused podcast interview. “I would allow states to decide how they want to regulate cannabis. That should be a thing that states are involved at their level—whether it’s medical, recreational—how they want to implement it. Different states have done it different ways, with some successes and some failures.”

“I think that, in the GOP realm, people are afraid of it,” the congresswoman said. “People are afraid of being primaried, and they they haven’t polled it, because if they polled it, they would see, ‘oh, wow, there’s actually significantly more support for this position than I realized.’”

She added that there are “so many reasons to [back cannabis reform] as a Republican. Not only is it the “right moral thing to do,” but it’s also “a winning electoral issue—it’s like a win-win situation.”

Mace said her colleagues in Congress are largely “clueless” on the nuances of the marijuana policy debate, particularly as it comes to some of the debates that have played out during the rescheduling effort. To an extent, that means it’s partly the responsibility of stakeholders and advocates to bring legislators the data showing how supporting policy reform is a popular political position, she said.

But as far as this year is concerned, Mace only signaled confidence that the Biden administration would complete rulemaking to move marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substance Act (CSA), as the Justice Department formally proposed in March.

Her States Reform Act to federally deschedule cannabis, meanwhile, has “zero” percent chance of advancing in the GOP-controlled House in the next three weeks, Mace said, noting challenges with the calendar and other legislative priorities.

“Right now, a good effort would be, between now and the end of the year, is I want to educate members about States Reform Act and then ask them to cosponsor it—showing that we can have a growing level of support,” she said.

. @RepNancyMace will be joining us at a special time tomorrow to talk about the current landscape of #cannabis and #hemp in Washington D.C.

This is going to be a can’t miss stream. See you all there! $MSOS $MSOX https://t.co/aPAeO6FEvm

— The Dales Report (@TheDalesReport) August 25, 2024

She also mentioned that, if rescheduling is ultimately enacted, her legislation will likely be amended ahead of its reintroduction next year. She didn’t provide details on how it might be changed, however.

In April, Mace said in a separate interview with The Dales Report that “if Republicans want to keep the House,” they should pass a marijuana banking bill, arguing that “there are votes” to approve it. She also said it’s “mind-boggling” that Virginia’s GOP governor had vetoed a bill to legalize cannabis sales given the issues’s broad bipartisan popularity.

The congresswoman also weighed in on another controversial development from earlier this year: guidance from a GOP policy committee she sits on that specifically urges members to oppose the SAFE Banking Act and the Cannabis Users’ Restoration of Eligibility (CURE) Act she’s sponsoring on marijuana-related security clearance denials.

“I just, I don’t understand. We don’t need it. We need to move forward, not backwards,” she said of the GOP leadership’s opposition to cannabis reform. “We need to go with where the country is.”