COLUMBUS, Ohio—U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown said Friday that he supports changing federal law to legalize recreational marijuana.
“I’d vote for it,” the Cleveland Democrat told reporters at a campaign rally near downtown Columbus after he filed to run for reelection in 2024.
For years, Brown voiced concerns about legalizing marijuana. Last year, he said that he opposes “wholesale legalization” of marijuana but supports decriminalization measures.
However, after weeks of public indecision, Brown voted in October for Issue 2, the state’s new voter-passed recreational marijuana law.
Speaking earlier this week, Brown told WKRC-TV in Cincinnati that he thinks state lawmakers should leave most of that new state law alone. That law, he told the TV station, “bumps up against federal law” and suggested that federal lawmakers “can fix that.”
For decades, federal law has banned the possession, use, sale or distribution of marijuana. Several bills have been introduced in Congress to reform or repeal federal marijuana restrictions — including a measure introduced earlier this week by U.S. Rep. Dave Joyce of Geauga County and others to protect state legalization laws from federal interference — but so far none of them have made significant progress.
Brown on Friday touted bipartisan Senate legislation that would let cannabis companies access the banking system. The bill, called the “SAFER Banking Act,” cleared the Senate Banking Committee – which Brown chairs – back in September, marking the furthest any such bill has gone in Congress. Most Republicans on the committee, including U.S. Sen. JD Vance of Cincinnati, opposed the measure.
Vance, who has said he’s “not a fan of recreational marijuana,” told WKRC-TV that existing federal marijuana laws should remain in place and that it should be left for each state to decide whether to legalize it.
All three Republicans running to take over Brown’s Senate seat next year – state Sen. Matt Dolan of Chagrin Falls, Secretary of State Frank LaRose of suburban Columbus, and Cleveland businessman Bernie Moreno – opposed the passage of Ohio’s new marijuana law, according to the Youngstown Vindicator.