Photo credit: Tess Brzycki
The past two presidential elections were turning points for cannabis. In 2012, Colorado and Washington were the first to legalize adult-use marijuana, and 2016 was the moment when most Democratic politicians came out in support of drug reform.
Public opinion had been evolving for years prior, but national elections can provide the spark for such an idea to spread like wildfire. It stands to reason that each Democratic candidate tries to “out-progressive” their opponents, pulling from the pool of ideas that have been slowly maturing in the collective unconscious to distinguish themselves. Currently, being in favor of marijuana is just smart politics.
As could be expected, the 2020 presidential election is also bringing change in the stances that candidates have been defending. Let’s look at the cannabis-related promises of the Democratic candidates still in the race.
Joe Biden
Former Vice President Joe Biden stands out in the Democratic roster as the only viable candidate who explicitly refuses to consider marijuana legalization. Biden always carried the heavy burden of his role in the War on Drugs; far from opposing it, the former vice president actively supported bills that facilitated incarceration on drug charges, civil asset forfeiture and “tough on crime” laws. He even wrote the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, the “largest crime bill” in U.S. history, which largely contributed to the mass incarceration issues that most of the Democratic candidates currently denounce and fight against.
Biden did change his stance to keep up with the times: Almost immediately after announcing his bid for president, he followed up by supporting the decriminalization of marijuana, saying that nobody “should be in jail simply for smoking or possessing marijuana.” As the Iowa caucus approached, he reiterated that he wants to keep marijuana illegal, but he expanded that position, declaring that “anyone who has a record, it should be immediately expunged.” After he finished fourth in Iowa, far behind Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg, he acknowledged the more progressive stance, saying that “it is at the point where it has to be basically legalized [...] but I’m not prepared to do it.”
Michael Bloomberg
There is a clear trend in favor of cannabis reform. Like former President Barack Obama said about same sex marriage, “his views were evolving,” and the same can be said for Democrats running for president in 2020. It now seems like being pro-legalization is a requirement to be considered a serious candidate in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.
We have seen Michael Bloomberg’s views on marijuana definitely evolve. For example, not that long ago, he called the legalization of marijuana “perhaps the stupidest thing we’ve ever done”; he has since changed his stance, stating that “putting people in jail for marijuana is really dumb.” According to campaign spokesperson Marc Lavorgna, Bloomberg “believes no one should have their life ruined by getting arrested for possession. He believes in decriminalization and doesn’t believe the federal government should interfere with states that have already legalized” marijuana.
Pete Buttigieg
It’s hard to know what Mayor Pete’s stance on cannabis outside of the election cycle is because he’s a newcomer to politics. At age 38, he’s never held an elected office besides that of mayor of South Bend, Ind., giving him little opportunity to express his opinion on the matter. However, his record as mayor is often pointed out. Under Buttigieg, black people in South Bend were 4.3 times more likely than white people to be arrested for marijuana offenses, which is far worse than the national average.
Before joining the race, Buttigieg was quiet about marijuana, making the media wonder whether he would take a stance on the topic at all. In July 2019, he announced a major marijuana legalization plan, going so far as pledging to decriminalize all drugs. Ahead of the Iowa caucus, he doubled down and declared that, if Congress failed to legalize marijuana during his presidency, he would personally board Air Force One and “fly it directly into the home district of a member who is standing in the way” to rile up pressure from the constituents.
Amy Klobuchar
Marijuana was never a first-priority issue for Sen. Amy Klobuchar—nor was it a second- or third-priority issue, either—as she virtually never talks about it. She was initially opposed to it, going so far as to earn a “D” rating from the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), indicating a “hard on drugs” stance. “I am opposed to the legalization of marijuana,” she allegedly said in a 1998 debate, according to MPR News.
Since then, she signed pro-cannabis legislation emanating from others without taking any initiative on the topic herself; she did co-sponsor Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s STATES Act, but she didn’t support initiatives calling for legalization. The only sign she supports recreational marijuana is a single statement claiming so, which was released two weeks after she announced running for president, mimicking what many of her rivals had done previously.
Bernie Sanders
Sen. Bernie Sanders was the first of the lot to defend drug reform, calling for it at a time when talking about marijuana was political suicide. In the early 1970s, when the Controlled Substances Act had just passed and a decade before Republican President Ronald Reagan ramped up the War on Drugs dramatically, Sanders was already outspoken about his desire to fully legalize adult-use marijuana. Ever since, he fought relentlessly as a congressman to bring about reform.
However, even Sanders’ stance evolved as the election loomed closer. In November 2019, he promised that he would legalize marijuana within 100 days of taking office. That was seemingly not enough, as he doubled down a few months later, two days before the Iowa caucus, when he promised he would legalize it on day one as president. While it is a sweet promise that follows the trend of the party and the executive branch does have the authority to reschedule cannabis without Congress’ approval, his plan would require cooperation from the attorney general and other appointees, who wouldn’t be Sanders’ own on day one.
Elizabeth Warren
Unlike others who always supported cannabis reform, like Buttigieg and Sanders, Sen. Elizabeth Warren fundamentally changed her opinion on the topic in recent years. She used to “oppose the outright legalization of marijuana” in 2012, when the question was brought up in her home state of Massachusetts, the Associated Press reports.
Her stance had already evolved in 2016, when she refused to endorse a recreational marijuana ballot initiative in Massachusetts but claimed to have personally voted in favor of it. She has steadily increased her support for marijuana since then, introducing the STATES Act in 2018, which would allow states that legalized cannabis to be free from federal interference. She went so far as to co-sponsor the MORE Act of 2019, which aims to federally legalize cannabis, and she is now championing full legalization.
