Could Democrats Federally Legalize Marijuana With Their New Senate And House Majorities?

Democrats won big in Tuesday’s midterm elections, retaking majorities in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives—a development that advocates say stands to boost efforts to reform federal marijuana laws.

The House under Democratic control has previously passed bills to federally legalize marijuana on two occasions, most recently in 2022.

Advancing cannabis reform in the Senate has been a taller task, however, even under Democratic control—given the chamber’s rules that give the minority party the power to filibuster bills that doesn’t have support from 60 members. That has been true even for incremental reforms that enjoy broad bipartisan support such as legislation to ease cannabis businesses’ access to banking services.

Marijuana reform has evolved significantly as an issue since the last time Democrats controlled Congress, however, with more state laws coming on board and President Donald Trump’s administration taking steps to advance the rescheduling of cannabis under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).

Given that context, advocates see opportunity for expected incoming House Speaker Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to grasp onto the issue of broader federal marijuana legalization as an alternative to Trump’s incremental steps.

Jeffries and Schumer have both sponsored legislation to federally legalize cannabis by removing it from the CSA—including a bill that they partnered in 2019 on called the Marijuana Freedom and Opportunity Act.

Schumer later joined with other Democratic senators on a more comprehensive legalization and regulation bill called the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act, while Jeffries teamed up with a Republican lawmaker on a proposal lay the groundwork for federal marijuana legalization by creating a commission to study the issue and make recommendations on a regulatory system for cannabis that models what’s currently in place for alcohol.

As of Wednesday morning, Democrats appeared poised to have won a sizable majority in the House and a Senate majority of somewhere between 54 and 56 seats, with two races yet to be called. If Democrats decide to prioritize the popular issue of marijuana reform in the 120th Congress that begins in January, they would likely need support from a handful of pro-reform Republican senators to advance any proposal to Trump’s desk.

The president, for his part, endorsed a state-level marijuana legalization initiative that appeared on Florida’s ballot in 2024, While the measure fell short of the 60 percent threshold needed to enact a constitutional amendment in the state, it did get majority support. Meanwhile, though his administration isn’t pushing broad federal marijuana legalization at this point, it is taking steps on the more modest reform of rescheduling cannabis to acknowledge its medical uses.

“Some two thirds of Americans support ending marijuana prohibition, and policies that punish responsible consumers and patients are increasingly out of step with voters across the political spectrum,” Morgan Fox, political director for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), told Marijuana Moment.

“Unfortunately, Republican leadership chose to ignore public sentiment and let popular cannabis policy legislation languish this session. Hopefully Democrats will not make the same mistake, and will provide the necessary leadership and bipartisanship to pass substantive, sensible reforms in the 120th Congress.”

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While state-licensed medical cannabis has already been moved from Schedule I to Schedule III under an order issued by Attorney General Todd Blanche earlier this year, broader rescheduling of adult-use marijuana is “still uncertain” amid an ongoing Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) hearing, Fox said.

As such, and because Schedule III’s practical effects for consumers are “relatively limited,” he said, “it is vital that federal lawmakers take on the issue.”

“The fate of federal marijuana policy should not be left in the hands of bureaucrats and judges. It is Congress who initially prohibited cannabis and it is Congress who ultimately needs to abolish this failed federal policy, specifically by descheduling cannabis and passing other reforms that provide real-world relief for millions of responsible consumers. Lawmakers should begin preparing now to prioritize this issue as early as possible in the next session. NORML looks forward to working with members of both parties to make meaningful legislative progress in the 120th Congress. The American people deserve federal cannabis policies grounded in science, public health, personal freedom, and justice.”

The latest edition of an ongoing quarterly tracking poll from Marijuana Moment and NuggMD released ahead of the election showed that marijuana consumers’ support for the Trump administration’s actions on cannabis have significantly declined as completion of a federal rescheduling proposal remains stalled amid procedural delays in an ongoing hearing on the reform.

Cat Packer, director of drug markets and legal regulation for the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA), told Marijuana Moment that Tuesday’s election results signal “a broader desire among American voters for change, greater accountability, and an end to abuses of government power.”

“Federal marijuana prohibition is one such abuse that has persisted for far too long,” she said, adding that merely rescheduling marijuana “is not enough.”

“The Trump Administration’s limited and exclusionary approach to rescheduling, which has created significant uncertainty while leaving federal criminalization intact, only underscores the urgent need for Congress to enact meaningful reform,” Packer said.

“Rather than continuing to advance incremental reforms that primarily benefit large, politically connected cannabis corporations, this new Congress has an opportunity to address the ongoing harms of marijuana criminalization, which continues to disrupt families, undermine economic opportunities and burden communities even as most states have moved away from prohibition,” she said. “That means ending federal criminalization of personal marijuana activity and protecting public health by establishing a comprehensive regulatory framework for both marijuana and hemp that puts people and communities first.”

Adam Rosenberg, board chair for the National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA), said in a statement on Wednesday that “with Democrats taking control of both chambers of Congress, there is a new opportunity to advance comprehensive federal cannabis reform.”

“America’s legal cannabis industry generates more than $29 billion in annual sales and supports more than 400,000 jobs, yet federal policy continues to impose unnecessary barriers on businesses operating in state-regulated markets,” he said. “The new congressional leadership has an opportunity to build bipartisan support for legislation that improves access to banking and capital, resolves unfair federal tax treatment and establishes a durable regulatory framework that respects state markets.”

Republican leaders in the House and Senate have strongly opposed marijuana law reform, even as Trump’s administration has advanced rescheduling.

As Marijuana Moment reported last month, executives of major cannabis companies donated to Jeffries’s joint fundraising committee, the Jeffries Majority Fund, and the likely incoming House speaker attended a fundraiser host by a marijuana dispensary CEO.

Meanwhile, as some cannabis industry executives donated to Jeffries and other Democrats, a political action committee that shares the same treasurer as President Donald Trump’s own super PAC used money raised from marijuana business donations to pay for independent expenditures in support of several vulnerable Republican members of Congress—including several who have voted against legislation to legalize cannabis.