Trump’s cannabis reform would revolutionise US policy. Just don’t expect the ‘war on drugs’ to end

‘It now seems that the biggest change to US federal drug policy for more than 50 years will happen through a Republican president.’ Photograph: Westend61/Getty Images

For decades, the issue of cannabis reform was firmly viewed as a leftist pipe dream. To most conservatives, particularly US Republicans, legalising weed was as realistic as nuclear disarmament, or abolishing national borders.

Think of the phrase “war on drugs” and the first people that probably come to mind are Republican presidents Nixon, Reagan and George HW and George W Bush. Although the clampdown reached its harshest levels during the presidency of Mr “I didn’t inhale” Bill Clinton, it always seemed as if the GOP owned the position of being “tough on drugs”. As recently as 2023, Mitch McConnell, then Senate Republican leader, reaffirmed this reputation by stating that: “Democrats are struggling with the basics. This should not be this hard. Drugs belong off our streets.”