Few policy issues can get a Democratic Senate hopeful and a Republican president talking about teamwork, but cannabis seems to have a talent for it. In Texas, Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico says that if he wins next month, he wants to team up with President Donald Trump to legalize marijuana at the federal level next year. As he put it, "He's for legalizing marijuana, and so am I," and he added that he hopes they can “do that together and expunge the records of people who have been locked up for a crime that doesn't hurt anybody." He framed it as one of several "areas where we can work together" with the White House, and he also pointed to criminal justice reform. Whatever your politics, a plant that gets rivals comparing notes deserves some credit for diplomacy.

But shortly before Talarico’s congenial cannabis comments, another side of the story was on full display. On October 22, 2026, the federal government’s Department of Justice announced the indictment of Virginia State Senator Lillie Louise Lucas on drug trafficking, money laundering, fraud, and firearms charges. Senator Lucas was first elected to the Virginia Senate in 1991 and has served as president pro tempore since 2020. She has also openly pushed for legalization. Outside the Capitol, she is a cannabis entrepreneur. 

News coverage describes Senator Lucas’s business as a “legal” medical cannabis operation, selling federally legal hemp and CBD products. But DOJ prosecutors say the enterprise allegedly sold federally illegal marijuana and laundered the proceeds. Prosecutors also allege that she used her political position to shield the enterprise from scrutiny and to influence legislation that benefited it. These are the DOJ’s allegations, and as we know very well, every defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

Taken together, the two stories show where cannabis policy stands today. The conversation about federal reform might be getting friendlier, but federal enforcement has not gone away. And the federal government’s bifurcated and flip-flopped positions on a singular cannabis plant that at any given time is recreational, medical or hemp is a stark reminder that state cannabis laws won’t necessarily shield a business or purportedly legal operator from federal prosecution. 

For everyone in the industry, there should be recognition that state-compliant operators and hemp businesses remain on shaky legal footing, that can shift drastically with an election or bill passage. (See also https://thepulse.hollandhart.com/post/102nht5/same-plant-worlds-apart) Bipartisan goodwill is welcome, but until the federal government really figures it out, some in the industry will pay a premium for operating in the gaps. No doubt Talarico and Trump are on to something: the current federal treatment of cannabis is untenable and needs to change.