Rep. Ilhan Omar told TMZ on Wednesday that she believes many of her colleagues on Capitol Hill smoke cannabis, a casual assertion that raises more questions than it answers about the Minnesota Democrat's priorities and the company she keeps in Washington.
Omar, who serves as co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, was stopped by TMZ cameras in Washington, D.C., and asked about recent shifts in federal marijuana and psychedelic drug policy. After initially framing the issue around legalization advocacy, she went further when pressed.
"I think there are a lot of people who smoke cannabis in Congress," Omar told TMZ. She then raised two fingers to make a peace sign and walked off.
Before dropping her headline-grabbing claim, Omar offered a broader defense of legalization efforts. She was careful, at least initially, to separate advocacy from personal use.
"I will say, advocacy for legalizing doesn't necessarily mean that you are a user, so everybody can be an advocate to legalizing it because we understand that it is not OK for us to spend the billions of dollars we do now in incarcerating people for smoking a joint."
That framing is familiar. Progressive lawmakers have long argued that marijuana enforcement disproportionately fills prisons and wastes taxpayer money. Omar offered no specific figures beyond the vague "billions of dollars" claim, and she did not name any of the members she believes use cannabis.
The lack of specifics is worth noting. Omar did not say whether these unnamed colleagues use marijuana in states where it is legal, whether they do so in Washington where recreational use is permitted under local law, or whether any of them might be violating federal statutes that still classify marijuana as a controlled substance. She simply tossed the claim out and walked away with a peace sign.
Omar is no stranger to controversy. Her name has surfaced in connection with the $250 million Feeding Our Future fraud case, and she has faced persistent scrutiny over her personal and political conduct during her time in Congress.
Omar's comments came against the backdrop of significant action by the Trump administration on marijuana and psychedelic drug policy. Last month, President Trump signed an executive order loosening research restrictions on psychedelic drugs as medicine to treat mental conditions such as depression and substance abuse disorder. The order directed the Food and Drug Administration to fast-track reviews, leading to the approval of psychedelic medicines.
Days later, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche ordered state-licensed medical marijuana to be reclassified as less dangerous. The order lowered the regulation on medical marijuana to a looser level and provided tax breaks to licensed medical marijuana operators.
Blanche posted to X explaining the rationale behind the move:
"These actions will enable more targeted, rigorous research into marijuana's safety and efficacy, expanding patients' access to treatments and empowering doctors to make better-informed healthcare decisions."
Republican Reps. Morgan Luttrell of Texas and Jack Bergman of Michigan have made the case for psychedelics to be accessible for veterans as a treatment option, a cause grounded in the real suffering of service members, not in the kind of breezy legalization talk Omar offered on camera.
Omar herself acknowledged the shift. She credited President Trump for moving the GOP's approach on drugs and for opening more discussions with his allies on the issue. That admission is telling. When a progressive Democrat from Minneapolis gives credit to a Republican president for advancing her own policy goals, it suggests the ground has genuinely moved.
Meanwhile, Omar's broader political record continues to draw fire. She has faced pointed questions about her financial disclosures and has been a frequent target of criticism from both sides of the aisle.
Omar pushed for more. She told TMZ she wants full legalization across the country.
"I think any step forward is a good step, but we need to go farther than where we are yet."
She also called for continued coalition-building and direct engagement with the president. "We need to continue building the coalition, we need to continue to have people speak to the president. He has the power, Congress has the power, and it's time for us to come together and get this done," Omar said.
There is a real policy debate to be had about marijuana's legal status, about the cost of enforcement, and about the medical potential of substances that have been tightly restricted since the federal government's drug enforcement regime expanded under former President Richard Nixon. Serious people on both sides of the aisle are having that debate. The Trump administration's recent actions on psychedelic research and medical marijuana reclassification show that progress can happen through executive leadership and careful regulatory reform.
But Omar's approach, casually telling a celebrity gossip outlet that lots of her colleagues get high, then flashing a peace sign, is not serious policymaking. It is performance. And it fits a pattern. Omar has repeatedly drawn attention through provocative public statements while facing questions about her own conduct that she has been far less eager to address.
She named no names. She cited no data. She offered no legislative vehicle. She gave a quote designed for a TMZ clip and moved on.
The congresswoman's personal orbit has also attracted scrutiny unrelated to cannabis policy. Financial questions surrounding a winery tied to her husband have added to a growing list of matters that Omar's critics say deserve more transparency.
The most interesting part of Omar's sidewalk interview may be what she left out. She did not say whether she personally uses marijuana. She did not explain how she knows "a lot of people" in Congress smoke it. She did not address the obvious tension between federal law, which still classifies marijuana as a controlled substance, and the behavior she casually attributed to unnamed colleagues.
Nor did she explain how her push for full national legalization squares with the incremental, research-based approach the Trump administration has actually taken. The executive order on psychedelics and Blanche's medical marijuana reclassification represent measured steps tied to scientific review and patient access. Omar wants to skip ahead to the finish line without doing the work.
That gap, between the administration's disciplined approach and Omar's freewheeling claims, tells you something about the difference between governing and grandstanding. One side is signing orders, directing the FDA, and reclassifying substances through official channels. The other is tossing off unverifiable claims to TMZ.
Rumors and controversies have followed Omar throughout her congressional career, and her latest comments will do nothing to quiet them.
If members of Congress are breaking federal law, that is a matter for investigation, not a punchline on a celebrity news site. And if Omar knows something specific, she owes the public more than a peace sign.
