In an odd twist of fate, the future of marijuana in the United States seems to depend on the results of the runoff election in Georgia on Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2021. If the two Democratic candidates, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, were to win their respective races, then the Democratic Party would secure control of the Senate, opening the path to federal decriminalization—and potentially legalization—of cannabis in the near future.
The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives did more for marijuana legalization in December 2020 alone than in the 50 years prior: The House passed the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act, which aims to decriminalize cannabis federally, with a resounding majority. It was followed by another victory for weed as the House approved the Medical Marijuana Research Act, which would allow scientists to study state-legal marijuana.
Now, only the Senate stands in the way. If the Senate approves the MORE Act, then cannabis will be removed from the list of controlled substances, making it legal by default and leaving it up to states to legislate. However, the Republican Party has been consistently blocking any attempt at reform. Under the leadership of Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, reform bills approved by the House do not even get a vote. However, McConnell’s Democratic peer, Chuck Schumer, came forward with his own marijuana legalization plan, the Marijuana Freedom and Opportunity Act. Schumer has been extremely clear: Marijuana reform will be a priority of a Democrat-controlled Senate.
Therefore, the next—and last—hurdle is to retake the Senate, which depends on the Georgia special election. Here are the candidates.
Jon Ossoff Vs. David Perdue
The Republican candidate, David Perdue, has made his stance on marijuana abundantly clear: “The only use of marijuana that I would support today would be the medical use of it,” he said, adding, “as a senator, I’m going to support the law of the land,” which fares poorly for people expecting him to fight for reform. In fact, Perdue does not seem to even support the position behind which many Democrats rallied, which is to decriminalize cannabis and allow states to create their own rules; he is downright opposed to people being allowed to consume marijuana for reasons other than medical imperatives.
Jon Ossoff’s stance couldn’t be any more different: “I won’t just push for decriminalization; I’ll push for nationwide legalization of cannabis. The prohibition of this substance is irrational. It’s hugely expensive. It has a terrible human toll,” he announced earlier this year. “The fact that there are people doing time for nonviolent marijuana-related offenses while others are getting rich in the cannabis industry is a grave injustice. I’ll fight for outright cannabis legalization, an end to incarceration for nonviolent drug offenses and expungement of records for nonviolent cannabis offenses.”
Raphael Warnock Vs. Kelly Loeffler
Republican candidate Kelly Loeffler boasted that she is “more conservative than Attila the Hun” and has a “100% Trump voting record,” a sharp turn to the alt-right that occurred on the campaign trail. She has no political experience other than a single year as an appointed senator, so it is impossible to rely on her past actions to determine her position on marijuana legalization.
The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) reports that Loeffler said, “I am concerned about the negative effects that legalizing marijuana would have on communities, families and our nation’s youth. [...] Any efforts by Congress to legalize this substance must be taken seriously and with the common goal in mind to prevent Americans from becoming dependent on drugs.” She also blasted Democrats for including mentions of marijuana reform in COVID relief efforts, which has been a rallying cry of anti-cannabis Republicans who refuse to acknowledge that the bill’s passage on marijuana represents only a tiny portion of the text.
Raphael Warnock, on the other hand, has explicitly addressed the issue of the War on Drugs and its devastating effects on communities—in particular communities of color—and openly endorsed full legalization.
“It’s a terrible irony, and we feel it, that right now in America there are some folks who are becoming billionaires for selling the same stuff that’s got our children locked up. [...] Where is the justice? It’s not enough to decriminalize marijuana. Somebody’s gotta open up the jails and let our children go,” Reverend Warnock said in a sermont. Ironically, Kelly Loeffler herself has been publicizing that speech as a political attack, claiming that “opening up the jails” here is a weak-on-crime stance rather than a humanist attempt to improve the living conditions of millions of innocent Americans.
“For 35 years, we’ve had a War on Drugs. Now, back then, we were dealing with heroin, crack. Now, we’re dealing with meth and opioids,” he said in another statement. “It’s interesting to me that, now, we have a public health emergency. I’m glad we’ve become so enlightened now that the bodies are suburban, rural and white.”
All four candidates are currently neck and neck, despite a disadvantageous start for the Democrats. Perdue beat Ossoff by two percentage points in the first round of the election, and while Warnock beat Loeffler by seven points, the Republican vote was divided in November—Loeffler and Doug Collins, both Republican candidates, got a total of nearly 46% of the votes, while Warnock got only 32.9% However, while Loeffler and Perdue both started with an advantage, the playing field has been leveled since November. Polls seem unable to give the race to either party, as all four candidates seem to have garnered just 49% of the votes each, but hope remains that the election itself might swing in favor of legal weed.