Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Addison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellPelosi: Trump hurrying to fill SCOTUS seat so he can repeal ObamaCare Senate GOP aims to confirm Trump court pick by Oct. 29: report Trump argues full Supreme Court needed to settle potential election disputes MORE (R-Ky.) on Tuesday told reporters he has no plan to support the legalization of marijuana as he pushes an effort to legalize hemp.

“I do not have any plans to endorse the legalization of marijuana,” he said, adding that marijuana and hemp are “two entirely separate plants.”

The top Republican introduced a measure in March to legalize hemp, taking it off the federal list of controlled substances and allowing it to be sold as an agricultural product.

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Hemp has small amounts of THC, the main psychoactive component of marijuana.

“It is a different plant. It has an illicit cousin which I choose not to embrace,” McConnell said of hemp on Tuesday.

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer Chuck SchumerSenate Democrats introduce legislation to probe politicization of pandemic response Schumer interrupted during live briefing by heckler: 'Stop lying to the people' Jacobin editor: Primarying Schumer would force him to fight Trump's SCOTUS nominee MORE (D-N.Y.) announced last month a plan to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level, removing it from the list of federally controlled substances and instead allowing states to regulate the drug.

Marijuana has been legalized in some form in 30 states and Washington, D.C. Recreational use of the drug is permitted in nine states and D.C.