2/7/18

Even red state Democrats are embracing legal cannabis

So, I’m a cannabis advocate for five western states and don’t know anybody who actually has to buy it.

Democrats in blue states already understand the added value to their campaigns but a red state Indianan gets it, too.
“We don’t need to give him another ounce of our brain-space,” Dan Canon told the crowd of 40 people, hitting the TV mute as President Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech began. Students seem drawn to Canon in part because he was one of the plaintiff attorneys in the lawsuit that became Obergefell v. Hodges, the Supreme Court case that legalized same-sex marriage. They like his stances on raising the federal minimum wage and providing Medicare for all. But it’s his full-throated support for legalizing medical marijuana at the federal level that has distinguished him in the eyes of many young voters, who consider it a threshold for taking any politician seriously.
Read that here.

West Virginia is another red state where Democrats favor legal cannabis, so is Tennessee.

Legal cannabis has become a favorite in Minnesota's Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party gubernatorial primary, too. Even so-called 'moderate Democrats' are on board.

Democrats in Montana's legislature want better testing for contaminants in cannabis to better serve that state's 18,953 registered therapeutic cannabis patients and 616 providers.

In Nevada, Tribal Cannabis Consulting has established cannabis compacts with Gov. Brian Sandoval’s office and the Yerington Paiute, Ely Shoshone and Pyramid Lake Paiute tribes.

And in California tribal nations want compacts with the state.

Red state Alaska has a thriving cannabis industry.

North Dakota has adopted therapeutic cannabis.

Not really South, not really Dakota: the state represents everything that is wrong with America and 2018 could be the year the South Dakota Democratic Party dies in a whimpering puddle.

Democrats are fleeing South Dakota, voters are disgusted and anti-cannabis Democrat Cory Heidelberger lost his District 3 statehouse bid to earth hater Al Novstrup.
So, legalization initiatives have a clear Democratic benefit. Democratic-leaning voters, who otherwise might have stayed home, could turn out to vote on marijuana reform. Some may leave other parts of the ballot blank, but Democrats could see a meaningful benefit overall. In a race that is close, a few thousand votes here or there could force an incumbent Republican Senator to pack up his office or shift a state’s electoral votes from red to blue. [Brookings Institution]
Since Heidelberger began blogging Democratic registration numbers have gone right down the toilet.

Primaries are expensive and allow far too much mischief: since turnout is so pathetic especially during midterms the drain-circling South Dakota Democratic Party should end them and choose candidates at the state conventions.

Indian casinos are small banks. It's time for states to enter cannabis compacts with tribal nations.

Democrats are keenly aware that to energize millennials and a jaded base radical times call for sensible approaches to reforms of civil liberties for all adults.





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