Editor's note: This article has been reviewed and updated for accuracy in 2026. According to recent polling, nine out of 10 Americans think that cannabis use among adults should be legalized on the federal level. These numbers, combined with the fact that many states across the country have passed legislation that permits adult weed use for medicinal and/or recreational reasons, proponents of weed can’t help but ask the eternal question “Why hasn’t the federal government legalized marijuana, and will they ever? Will legalization finally happen under the Biden/Harris administration? Is this administration different than previous ones? Has anything been said on the campaign trail and post-election to indicate that federal legalization is immanent? Considering the fact that Kamala Harris pledged that decriminalizing weed could be a priority if she and Joe Biden were elected into the White House (which, whether rightly or fraudulently, has come to be), and that Senator Cory Booker, a democrat from New Jersey, indicated that Biden could legalize marijuana on the federal level, and even went to far as to as that Biden isn’t opposed to legalization, those who are eager for and support federal legalization would hope so, and in fact, would think so. However, the acting president doesn’t quite share the same stance as his VP or Senator Booker. In July, 2021, Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, told reporters that <a href=https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2021/04/20/press-briefing-by-press-secretary-jen-psaki-april-20-2021/ target=_blank