The US presidential election is simply weeks away and each candidates and voters are gearing up for the ultimate section. Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump placed on a very good present throughout the current presidential debate in Philadelphia. However there are nonetheless many points left unaddressed. Curiously, considered one of them is the federal legalization of marijuana, one thing on which each candidates could have extra factors of settlement than disagreement.
It is a legitimate perspective to assume that this election might lastly lead to some federal adjustments to the prohibition on leisure marijuana use that has been in place for greater than 100 years.
Curiously, in the US, 24 states and the District of Columbia (representing 53 % of the nation’s inhabitants) have legalized marijuana and now tax and regulate marijuana gross sales equally to these of alcohol, in keeping with the Marijuana Coverage Venture, which helps hashish legalization.
Seven different states have eradicated jail sentences for possession of small quantities of marijuana. A complete of 38 states and the District of Columbia have legal guidelines permitting medical use of marijuana.
About 70 % of American adults mentioned marijuana ought to be authorized in a Gallup ballot final 12 months, the best degree recorded by the polling agency because it first requested about marijuana coverage in 1969.
Occasions are altering, so the November 5 election will likely be fascinating, with each candidates leaning in comparable instructions, regardless of quite a few different disagreements.
KAMALA HARRIS’ STANCE
The vp has had an fascinating journey in relation to marijuana legalization. Although she launched a invoice within the Senate in 2019 to decriminalize marijuana on the federal degree and famous that there ought to be no incarceration for marijuana possession, Harris was not all the time so accepting.
In accordance with the Washington Submit, throughout her tenure as San Francisco district legal professional, Harris convicted practically 2,000 folks for marijuana-related offenses. Throughout her 2010 marketing campaign to turn out to be California legal professional common, she vehemently opposed the legalization of marijuana for leisure use.
After which, in 2019, she abruptly began advocating for legalization, admitting as a presidential candidate that she herself used some marijuana. She has since advocated for quite a few insurance policies and for pardons for these convicted of marijuana use.
“Nobody ought to go to jail for smoking marijuana,” Harris mentioned. “What we have to do is acknowledge that too many individuals have been despatched to jail for merely possessing marijuana.”
With Harris in workplace, it might be protected to imagine that marijuana will quickly have its second within the solar.
DONALD TRUMP’S STANCE
Then comes former President Donald Trump, who has toed a line in relation to marijuana legalization. He hardly ever speaks out for or in opposition to it. When he does, he’s extra ambiguous than clear. As president, he pardoned a drug seller serving a life sentence, however then spoke of his intention in 2023 to use the dying penalty to all drug sellers.
Then, simply days in the past, he expressed his assist extra clearly than ever on Fact Social, saying he would vote for the Florida Poll initiative to legalize marijuana.
“I consider it’s time to finish the pointless arrests and incarcerations of adults for small quantities of marijuana for private use. We should additionally implement good laws, whereas offering adults with entry to protected and examined merchandise,” she wrote on Fact Social on September 9.
He added: “As president, we’ll proceed to give attention to analysis to unlock the medical makes use of of marijuana as a Schedule 3 drug, and we’ll work with Congress to go commonsense laws, together with protected banking for state-licensed firms, and supporting the rights of states to go marijuana legal guidelines, like in Florida, that work so properly for his or her residents.”
Whether or not this may occur stays to be seen, however there are encouraging indicators that marijuana might lastly be the topic of federal laws over the course of the subsequent decade. However what is definite is that the November 5 election could have one thing to say about it.