Cory Booker Says Federal Cannabis Policy ‘Defies Science and Reality’ at D.C. Summit

Senator Cory Booker addressed a national audience of executives, investors and policymakers at the Cannabis Capital & Policy Summit in Washington, D.C., offering a direct assessment of where federal cannabis policy stands and where meaningful progress may come from next.

Booker appeared during the afternoon program of the one-day event, produced by IgniteIt in partnership with the U.S. Cannabis Roundtable (USCR). Attendees included operators from across the country, institutional investors, regulators, congressional staff and policy advisors who gathered to evaluate the current federal landscape and the implications of upcoming political shifts.

Opening his remarks, Booker emphasized the central point that has guided much of his cannabis policy work:

“Justice is descheduling, we all know that. That’s what the right thing to do is: to deschedule,” he said. “But I will accept any progress over no progress.”

Booker then contrasted cannabis policy with the federal treatment of far more dangerous substances.

“The idea that heroin and meth are the same as cannabis defies all science and reality,” he said. “And so to have it scheduled 1, have it the same schedule as these much more severe substances that we all know the consequences can be for our communities, is absurd.”

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The senator also reflected on a well-known moment from the presidential debate stage, recalling the line in which he joked that then-candidate Joe Biden’s cannabis platform “must have been written by someone who was high.” The follow-up conversation at home quickly became part of today’s remarks.

“Everybody in the auditorium laughed. My mom didn’t,” Booker said. “She’s like, ‘Do not accuse the Vice President of the United States of being high.’ My mom was not pleased.”

After the lighter moment, Booker turned back to broader themes that grounded much of his message: shared priorities, bipartisan alignment and the need for progress based on scientific reality rather than political inertia.

“I have been consistently fighting this battle for a long time,” he said. “I don’t care, Republican or Democrat. By the way, I think most of the problems in this country, the lie that we tell, is that they are left or right. No, they are not. We agree on so much more than we disagree with.”

He later added:

“The savagery of our tribalism, unfortunately, I think it is a delusion that undermines the truth. The truth is that we are a nation that has common pain, but our politics don’t serve us to come together around a common purpose. This [cannabis] is an area where we have a common purpose.”

Booker’s appearance was one of the most discussed moments of the summit, signaling a notable degree of federal engagement during a period of heightened policy uncertainty. His remarks represent only a portion of the insights shared during his session. IgniteIt will continue to deliver additional reporting and analysis from the summit as conversations around reform, rescheduling and institutional investment evolve.

More coverage from Washington will follow.

Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons