In states where marijuana has already been legalized, Democrats are tying the arduous process of creating and regulating a marijuana market to criminal justice agendas. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti — sometimes talked about as a Democratic candidate in 2020 — has pushed a program that gives priority to low-income people with marijuana convictions when handing out dispensary licenses, and he appointed Cat Packer, a black woman who worked for the Drug Policy Alliance, as his first head of the Department of Cannabis Regulation. Gov. Jay Inslee, another low-key potential candidate, is overseeing Washington state’s legalization.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, whose state, Massachusetts, voted to legalize marijuana, has staked out a fight against Trump and Sessions with a bill to protect states’ rights to legalize pot, a direct counter to moves by Sessions to let the Justice Department prosecute marijuana crimes in states where pot is legal.

The next wave of Democrats are explicitly calling for legalization, a subtle but significant shift that makes it more likely than not that the party’s next presidential nominee supports legalizing marijuana.