The History of Support for Legal Marijuana from Sanders to Trump

From The Shepherd Express:

Ahead of the Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee, virtually all Democratic presidential candidates have expressed their support for the legalization of cannabis, a new stance for most of them. Just a few years ago, only a select few were championing cannabis, the first of whom was Bernie Sanders.

As early as 1972, Sanders was already standing up to support rights for American citizens to consume marijuana. Following his bid for governor of Vermont, he wrote it plainly in an article: “‘Could I ask Mr. Sanders if he has ever smoked marijuana?’ Strangely enough, despite all the times that I had talked about the need for legalizing marijuana, that was the first time that question was ever directly asked of me. I said, ‘Yes, I have smoked marijuana.’” For decades, Sanders was the only one, among the current roster of Democratic presidential hopefuls, to stand up for marijuana through initiatives like co-sponsoring a medical marijuana bill as early as 1996.
It wasn’t before the early 2000s that others offered tentative support for cannabis reform—Cory Booker, Mike Gravel and Beto O’Rourke, specifically. Then, as the 2016 presidential election loomed and polls reported that 50% of Americans were in favor of cannabis reform, more and more politicians started coming out in favor of it. Steve Bullock and Eric Swalwell were among the first to express support, years before Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris did.
Medical Marijuana, Inc. (MJNA), a marijuana and hemp company, recently revealed a timeline and guide of the presidential candidates’ stances on marijuana. It clearly shows that, after Donald Trump’s victory in 2016, the floodgates opened, and a tidal wave of support for marijuana reform hit the Democratic Party. The political trend seems to closely follow the changing opinion of the American people on the matter. Gallup polls report that support for marijuana legalization reached an all-time high of 66% at the end of 2018.

Read more: https://shepherdexpress.com/hemp/cannabis/the-history-of-support-for-legal-marijuana-from-sanders-to-t/?utm_source=Cannabis+Connection+Newsletter+7.08.2019&utm_campaign=Dining_Newsletter_7_08_2019&utm_medium=email