Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) says that while federal marijuana legalization represents “justice,” he is willing to accept “any progress” on cannabis as President Donald Trump considers a redistricting proposal. And the senator said that, contrary to the partisan “tribalism” endemic in the country, Americans of all political backgrounds generally agree that the issue is “an area where we have a common goal.”
At an event in Washington, DC hosted by IgniteIt on Monday, Booker spoke about the future of cannabis policy, the pending redistricting issue, full legalization and the bipartisan politics of marijuana reform.
“Justice is being deprogrammed. We all know that,” Booker said, referring to the idea of removing cannabis entirely from the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), which would legalize it. “That’s the right thing to do: deprogramming. But I’ll accept any progress without progress.”
That line may raise some eyebrows among the senator’s critics, who lashed out at Booker’s previous position that he was unwilling to support bipartisan marijuana banking legislation without seeing that the communities most affected by prohibition are not subject to criminalization and receive restorative justice.
Booker, however, advocated for comprehensive marijuana reform in Congress, saying part of what informs his position is that cannabis is now a drug under the CSA, along with substances like heroin, that “defy all science and reality.”
“Having a Schedule I — having the same schedule as these much more serious substances that can have consequences for our communities — is absurd,” he said.
The senator also reflected on the 2020 Democratic presidential campaign, where at one point he sparred with former President Joe Biden and told him that the creator of his marijuana policy platform “should be on top” for his incrementalism.
“Everybody in the audience laughed,” Booker said, per IgniteIt he stated. “My mother didn’t say, ‘Don’t blame the Vice President of the United States for being high.’ My mother didn’t like it.”
“I have been fighting this battle for a long time,” the senator said. “I don’t care if you’re a Republican or a Democrat; by the way, I think most of the problems in this country, the lie we tell is whether it’s left or right. No, they’re not. We agree a lot more than we disagree.”
“I think the brutality of our tribalism is unfortunately a delusion that undermines the truth,” the senator said. “It is true that we are a nation with a common pain, but our politics do not serve us to unite around a common goal. This is an area where we have a common goal.”
Until then, marijuana reform has enjoyed strong bipartisan support from the American public. But The support of the Republic has seen a significant decrease since last yearAccording to a recent Gallup poll. The reasons for the change are unclear, but it comes amid heightened debate over the nation’s laws governing consumer hemp products.
Meanwhile, it’s been about three months since Trump said he would make a final decision on marijuana reregulation within weeks, a White House spokesman said recently. he told Marihuana Moment that the process remains “ongoing.”