Ben Stiller Praises Kamala Harris, Has Brought ‘Change’ To Democratic Party; Don Trump Jr. Says No Way; Cannabis Industry Says Yes, Bring Harris-Walz On

Ben Stiller‘s endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris saying she’s brought “change” to the Democratic Party, naturally sparked mixed reactions ranging from hell yeah to accusations of having a “parasitized mind.”

“Just very excited about moving forward and all the energy and excitement that’s around this movement right now,” Stiller told journalist Nicholas A. Ballasy in a quick airport interview, which has now gone viral. “That’s why I’m here, because it’s time for change and it seems like it’s happening.”

Asked whether Harris could maintain her momentum post-Democratic National Convention, Stiller said, “For sure,” adding that the 2024 election is “going to be close but everyone’s motivated to work and make it happen.”

Stiller added, “And she and Tim Walz are just incredible candidates.”

“Having a pro-legalization ticket is a tremendous asset to advancing cannabis reform,” Saphira Galoob, executive director of the National Cannabis Roundtable, told Benzinga’s Abbey Higginbotham in a recent interview.

Read Also: Kamala Harris, Tim Walz Form First Explicitly Pro-Cannabis Legalization Presidential Ticket In History

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“There will be no change,” Donald Trump Jr. wrote on X Wednesday. “It’s literally the Biden-Harris administration right now. Why didn’t she push for any change for the last 4 years???”

Other Hollywood celebs such as George Clooney threw his support behind Harris as the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee early on following President Joe Biden’s July decision to step aside.

But it might be the cannabis industry that has most expressed positive views about the Harris-Walz ticket.

Seth Yakatan of Katan Associates International — and an upcoming speaker at Benzinga’s Cannabis Capital Conference — called the Harris-Walz ticket the first to show “genuine and consistent support of legalizing cannabis.” Katan referred to the Biden administration’s much-touted plan to reschedule cannabis, as the “single largest catalyst event for the cannabis industry” since the advent of state-by-state legalization.

Paul Armentano, deputy director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) praised Harris in an op-ed published in The Pittsburgh-Post Gazette. 

“As vice pres­i­dent, Har­ris has re­peat­edly stated that Amer­i­cans should not be in­car­cer­ated for mar­i­juana use. She’s cham­pi­oned the Biden ad­min­is­tra­tion’s ef­forts to par­don low-level mar­i­juana of­fend­ers and to loosen cer­tain fed­eral cann­abis re­stric­tions,” Armentano said, adding that as the “Demo­cratic pres­i­den­tial nom­i­nee, she’s the first ma­jor party can­di­date to have ever called for the plant’s le­gal­iza­tion and reg­u­la­tion.”

NORML was founded in 1970, making it the oldest continuously functioning cannabis advocacy group in the U.S. and therefore the world,

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Photo: Benzinga edit of images by Neil Grabowsky and U.S. Senate (public domain) on Wikimedia Commons