Cannabis – Friend or Foe for Democrats?

marijuana voting for democrats

With the November Elections quickly approaching – one of the central themes that will either help candidates or destroy them is again…cannabis.

Yes – for years now Americans wanted legal cannabis. Since about 2011 – when support for cannabis reached 50% in the US, we only saw an expedited decline in support for the War on Drugs. People started realizing that it’s not the “security blanket” people thought it was but rather a prisoner-milling machine that helped swell the prison population to what it is today.

Let’s not forget that minorities are being targeted at higher rates than Caucasians in the US as well. Nowadays – cannabis support is reaching the 70% market within the US population. Over 2/3rds of Americans are now in favor of cannabis – irrespective of party lines.

It would seem that legalizing cannabis would be a popular move for any presidential hopeful. But Trump has been largely silent about cannabis and while Jeff Sessions was his Drug Bizarre for a while – his government hasn’t done much for or against weed.

Perhaps – Trump is thinking that to leave cannabis alone makes would do less damage than to either endorse it or speak out against it.

This leaves the Democrats with cannabis legalization as part of the platform. Hell – if full legalization was on the books – they’d probably win in a landslide.

Except – the DNC did what the DNC does – push their candidates and fuck the rest!

Joe Biden – the candidate of choice – is not in favor of cannabis legalization. He is in fact in favor of the worst policy for the cannabis industry – Rescheduling it to Schedule-II in the CSA.

I have written on how bad this is for the cannabis industry – but for those who don’t want to search for that content…here’s what Schedule II would mean for cannabis.

Schedule-II means “Some medical benefit, high potential for abuse”. What other drugs fall in this category? Well, cocaine and methamphetamines are. These substances are virtually only accessible to big pharmaceutical companies since Schedule-II substances require vigorous regulation and fees. To keep up with the costs would bankrupt any Mom & Pop Shop and would essentially hand the entire cannabis industry over to the Pharmaceutical industry.

Gee – after locking up people for pot, Biden thought it would be cool to give the industry that activists have fought and died for – to Big Pharma.

Some in his campaign says he’s on board with The MORE Act – but his public appearances don’t seem to be echoing these sentiments.

And this is where Cannabis becomes problematic for Democrats.

How Weed can be a counter-point this November

Firstly – How you legalize cannabis is more important than “If” you legalize cannabis. People in the US and the world know that cannabis will get legalized – but the HOW is important now. Will it be legalized for a handful of corporate tycoons to run our lives – or will it be given to the people?

If Joe Biden has its way – well, you can kiss goodbye to home growing, craft cannabis and Mom & Pop Shops and say hello to Big Corporate bud with a cap on THC.

Another thing that could play against Democrats is optics. With a pandemic in full-swing, riots and protests in the streets, and the economy not doing too well – focusing on weed might be seen as “secondary”.

I for one believe that cannabis legalization is not a secondary issue since it’s a matter of civil liberties – but you know that politicians like to smear their opponents and will frame it as “irresponsible”. In fact, they were mocking democrats for calling cannabis an “essential business”.

The truth of the matter is that Democrats are right in this one. Cannabis is an essential business – especially during COVID. However, Republicans won’t be trying to convince me…they’ll try to convince the undecided middle to support their side and if enough people view cannabis as “not as important as security, economy and health” – it could hurt their performance this November.

I personally think the biggest issue is the dissonance between Biden and the rest of the Democrats. The DNC are now backing Biden – yet, we know that many of them support full legalization.

Another thing is – if the MORE act passes, and everyone knows that Biden is not in favor of cannabis legalization – Trump could easily point out that Biden won’t be in charge…AOC an Pelosi would be.

If this happens – it detracts from his ability to be perceived as a strong leader to some.

I could care less – I just don’t like Biden’s view on drugs and cannabis. I believe his views are antiquated and he is not a solid representation of people these days. Fortunately – I don’t get to vote on those things mainly because I’m a made up character on a weed blog but hey – that’s just me.

What do you think? Will cannabis hurt the Democrats this November or help them win? Let us know in the comments!