Trump’s Drug Czar Pick Dodges Senators’ Marijuana Questions As Her Nomination Advances

President Donald Trump’s pick for White House drug czar dodged a series of
written questions from senators about her position on marijuana
rescheduling, medical cannabis legalization and racial disparities in drug
enforcement.

Ahead of a Senate Judiciary Committee vote on Thursday to advance the
nomination of Sara Carter Bailey as director of the Office of National Drug
Control Policy (ONDCP), the nominee submitted responses to a variety of
questions from members, including multiple that dealt with cannabis.

Similar to how to navigated questions about rescheduling during an
in-person hearing last month, Bailey provided largely vague answers about
the topic when asked by Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Dick Durbin (D-IL).
That’s despite her previous statements supporting medical cannabis access
prior to her nomination.

Asked simply whether she supports the rescheduling of cannabis—as Trump
previously endorsed on the campaign trail and said in late August he’d be
deciding on within weeks—Bailey said, if confirmed, “I will comply with all
federal laws and fulfill all statutory responsibilities of the ONDCP. I
will also work with the interagency to ensure an examination of all facts
and evidence as part of any scheduling or policy actions.”

Citing comments the nominee made on a podcast episode, where she
acknowledged the medical benefits of cannabis, Durbin asked whether she
intended to “work to legalize medical marijuana on the federal level.”

“If confirmed as Director, I will comply with all federal laws and fulfill
all statutory responsibilities of the ONDCP,” she said, mirroring her
response to the rescheduling question. “I will also work with the
interagency to ensure an examination of all facts and evidence as part of
any scheduling or policy actions.”

While there’s nothing in federal statute precluding the ONDCP director from
supporting administrative rescheduling proposals, the law does dictate that
the official is barred from promoting the legalization of any Schedule I
drugs under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).

In April, Democratic congressional lawmakers announced the filing of a bill
that would remove that restriction. It has not yet advanced in the
GOP-controlled Congress, however.

Durbin also asked the nominee if she agrees “people of color have been
disproportionately harmed by drug prosecutions,” and she offered a curious
response, seemingly disagreeing despite the preponderance of evidence that
Black and brown people have been more aggressively targeted over drugs
compared to white people.

“I believe that all communities have suffered as a result of illicit
narcotics with data showing that certain drugs are more prevalent in some
communities,” she said.

Then, asked what she would do about the racial disparity issue, Bailey said
she would simply “commit to ensuring effective, timely, evidence-based
treatment is available to all Americans.”

“At the same time, through collaboration with the Department of Justice, I
will support U.S. Attorneys to hold all drug traffickers accountable,” she
said.

Booker also leaned into the rescheduling issue in his questions for the
record (QFRs). Specifically, he pressed the nominee on whether “prosecutors
or scientists and doctors” are better qualified to “conduct the scientific
and medical evaluations of drugs.”

“As stated at the hearing, if confirmed I will work with all relevant
interagency stakeholders to ensure an examination of all facts and
evidence,” she said. “Under the CSA, scientists and doctors use a
comprehensive approach in balancing potential risks and benefits of any
substance, and the HHS Secretary provides a recommendation to the Attorney
General.”

Booker then asked if Bailey would “assign more weight to a scheduling
recommendation from HHS based on its scientific and medical evaluation of a
drug rather than DEA’s opinion.”

“As stated at the hearing, I support the process under the CSA, and if
confirmed I will work with all relevant interagency stakeholders to ensure
an examination of all facts and evidence,” she said.

The senator additionally inquired as to whether the nominee would “support
additional federal funding for overdose prevention centers” if confirmed.
But it’s not clear what he meant by that line of questioning, as advocates
generally refer to overdose prevention centers as locations where people
can safely use currently illicit drugs under medical supervision with
treatment resources. The Justice Department has long maintained that
statute prohibits such facilities, fighting local attempts to institute
them in court.

In any case, Bailey said she doesn’t support additional funding; rather,
she generally backs “preventing overdoses and all harms caused by drugs.”

“Each overdose save is an opportunity to connect a person to treatment and
give them hope,” she said. “I also fully support the President’s executive
orders.”

Booker also asked whether the nominee believes the “war on drugs
approach has failed to reduce overdose deaths.”

“Our approach will be balanced: preventing the production of illicit drugs
overseas and their movement across our borders and into our communities;
holding accountable those who traffic in illicit drugs and their raw
materials, as well as those who facilitate the illicit drug trade;
preventing drug use before it starts; saving the lives of those who
overdose; and providing access to evidence-based treatment leading to
long-term recovery for everyone who needs it,” Bailey said.

A former journalist known for her coverage of drug cartels, Bailey also
recently advised senators that the administration is keeping “all options”
on the table as it continues to consider a pending marijuana rescheduling
proposal, while describing cannabis reform as a “bipartisan issue.”

Given the role of the ONDCP director in setting and carrying out the
administrative agenda on drug policy issues, the fact that Bailey has gone
on the record enthusiastically endorsing medical cannabis in the past is
welcome news for advocates.

Trump endorsed rescheduling—as well as marijuana industry banking access
and a Florida legalization ballot initiative–on the campaign trail ahead of
his second term. But his most recent comments in late August about the
timeline for a rescheduling decision gave a more ambiguous impression of
his position on the issue.

While Bailey has spoken often about various marijuana policy
issues—focusing attention on illicit trafficking and illegal grow
operations on U.S. land, for example—her public comments on how she
personally feels about the topic have been limited. What she did say last
year in an episode of her podcast, The Sara Carter Show, signaled that she
draws a distinction between legally regulated and illicitly supplied
marijuana.

“I don’t have any problem if it’s legalized and it’s monitored,” she said.
“I mean, I may have my own issues of how I feel about that, but I do
believe that cannabis for medicinal purposes and medical reasons is a
fantastic way of handling—especially for people with cancer and other
illnesses, you know—of handling the illness and the side effects of the
medication and those illnesses. So I’m not saying we’ve gotta make it
illegal.”

If Bailey is ultimately confirmed by the Senate, she will become the second
drug czar in a row who has voiced support for medical marijuana, following former
President Joe Biden’s ONDCP director Rahul Gupta, who worked as a
consultant for a cannabis businesses and also oversaw implementation of
West Virginia’s medical marijuana program.

Bailey has separately sounded the alarm about the risk of pesticides and
other contaminants in marijuana grown and sold by Chinese cartels—an issue
that was recently taken up by a House committee.

Last year, the nominee talked about the issue with Derek Maltz, a
then-retired Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) official who is
temporarily served as acting administrator of the agency prior to the
confirmation of Trump’s permanent pick, Terrance Cole.

In an X post about the interview with Maltz, Bailey said he exposed how
“Chinese marijuana grow operations are using hazardous chemicals as
pesticides.”

In 2022, U.S. Rep. Mike Garcia (R-CA) applauded Bailey, who worked with his
office to bring attention to illicit grow operations in his district,
leading to a local law enforcement investigation.

Bailey gave the congressman credit, saying “your work in taking down the
illegal marijuana grows has stopped cartels from exploiting your community,
those people forced to work on them and the [money].”

In an interview with Fox News’s Sean Hannity in 2021, she also talked about
her work with Garcia—including accompanying him on a helicopter to survey
“miles and miles and miles of vast, sophisticated illegal grows worth tens
of millions of dollars.”

Cartels have “become extremely more brazen. They’re not afraid of hiding
it,” she said. “They don’t hide it because they don’t feel that they’ll
ever be held accountable for it.”

In a sense, Bailey has seemed to implicitly suggest at multiple times that
she supports regulated access to cannabis as a means of promoting public
safety and health. Whether and how that implied position would influence
federal policy if she’s confirmed and assumes the ONDCP director role is
yet to be seen.

On her social media, she’s previously shared links—without commentary—to
news stories about a variety of marijuana-related issues. In addition to
her focus on illicit cartel grows, she’s also posted about congressional
and state-level legalization votes, staffers in the Biden administration
being fired over past cannabis use, Democratic presidential
candidates’ support for legalization, the advancement of cannabis banking
legislation in Congress and state policy developments such as
Alaska’s legalization of cannabis cafes.

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Nomination Advances appeared first on Marijuana Moment.