Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Tuesday he has no plans to endorse legalizing marijuana, even as his Democratic counterpart, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is making a new push to decriminalize weed.
“I do not have any plans to endorse legalization of marijuana,” McConnell said.
McConnell is pushing to legalize the production of hemp, which contains small amounts of marijuana’s key ingredient, THC.
“These are two entirely separate plants,” McConnell said. “I hope everybody understands that. It is a different plant. It has an illicit cousin which I choose not to embrace.”
McConnell said hemp is “a diversified crop” that farmers across America could be allowed to grow legally.
McConnell is the author of a bill to legalize hemp production nationwide. Hemp production is legal in the Bluegrass State and has begun to flourish.
Last month, Schumer announced his decision to support legalizing marijuana and introduced a bill to remove the drug from the Drug Enforcement Administration’s list of controlled substances. Schumer wants states to decide whether pot should be legal, not the federal government.
