• 3 months ago
With Donald Trump’s support for Florida’s pro-pot Amendment 3 and the expected federal rescheduling of marijuana, here’s why the GOP finally jumped on the weed bandwagon.

Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/willyakowicz/2024/09/22/how-the-republican-party-learned-to-love-cannabis-legalization/

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Transcript
00:00Today on Forbes, how the Republican Party learned to love cannabis legalization.
00:07In early September, former President Donald Trump officially announced his support for
00:12potheads.
00:13On his Truth Social platform, he wrote, quote,
00:16I believe it is time to end needless arrests and incarcerations of adults for small amounts
00:20of marijuana for personal use.
00:23We must also implement smart regulations while providing access for adults to safe, tested
00:29Trump, who was a Florida resident, went on to say that he would vote yes on Amendment
00:353, which if passed this November would legalize recreational cannabis in the Sunshine State.
00:41That could be a linchpin for other southern red states that have yet to legalize marijuana.
00:46And if Trump becomes president again, he wrote that he would also support the federal government's
00:50ongoing review to potentially reclassify cannabis as a less dangerous drug, work with Congress
00:56to pass cannabis banking reform bills, and support states that wanted to legalize pot
01:00sales within their own borders.
01:03For most voters, the leader of the Republican Party coming out in support of cannabis legalization
01:08was surprising.
01:10The political movement to legalize marijuana has long been associated with liberals and
01:14Democrats.
01:15But over the last few years, more and more Republican lawmakers, big money donors, and
01:20conservative thinkers have co-opted the issue.
01:24Thanks to a $30 billion state-licensed cannabis economy spanning 38 states, 15 of which are
01:30Republican states, marijuana legalization is becoming a proxy for classic conservative
01:35issues—pro-business, states' rights, and freedom from big government.
01:41Even Richard Nixon, the Republican president who started America's war on drugs in 1971
01:46and classified marijuana as one of the world's most addictive substances, said that cannabis
01:51quote, is not particularly dangerous.
01:54He said this on audiotapes from 1973, revealed in a recent report in the New York Times.
02:01Jeremiah Mosteller, the co-founder of the Cannabis Freedom Alliance and the policy director
02:06at Americans for Prosperity, billionaire Charles Koch's political advocacy group, has been
02:11lobbying Republican lawmakers on cannabis reform since 2018.
02:16He says that, after years of perpetuating the war on drugs, the GOP has finally realized
02:21that legalization is happening with or without them.
02:24Now many lawmakers have decided to get on the bandwagon in hopes of incorporating conservative
02:28policies into the new laws, such as low taxes and fewer regulations to foster competitive
02:34free markets.
02:36Mosteller says, quote,
02:38We are seeing Republicans and conservatives increasingly warm up to cannabis policy.
02:43I think Trump recognizes what those of us who have been watching the issue for a long
02:46time know, that there is high support among the American public for this issue, but it's
02:51not an issue that makes a difference at the ballot box.
02:55If there is one man in Congress who can read the temperature on marijuana opposition and
02:59support, it is Representative Earl Blumenauer, a Democrat from Oregon and the founder and
03:04co-chair of the bipartisan Congressional Cannabis Caucus.
03:08He says, quote,
03:10We've been watching.
03:11There's been a slow, steady enhancement of Republican support.
03:15What we are seeing now is the last stages of entrenched Republican opposition.
03:20Among those who have had a recent conversion is Representative David Joyce, a Republican
03:25from Ohio, which legalized recreational use in 2023.
03:30Last December, Joyce introduced the States 2.0 Act, which would formally legalize state
03:35markets under federal law.
03:37If passed, Joyce's bill would deschedule state-legal marijuana, but pot produced and sold outside
03:43of state-licensed programs would remain illegal.
03:47This nuanced technicality sets the stage for a states' rights approach to legalization
03:51in a similar fashion that sports betting was legalized across America.
03:55Joyce, who says he started supporting legal cannabis in 2013, says Republican support
04:01is there for cannabis when legalization is framed as a states' rights issue.
04:06So much so that he believes that in Congress, quote,
04:09There are enough votes for cannabis reform.
04:12He adds, quote,
04:13Republicans are becoming enlightened.
04:16Someone can hate the issue, but if they're strong on states' rights, how can they deny it?
04:22For full coverage, check out Will Yakowitz's piece on Forbes.com.
04:27This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes.
04:29Thanks for tuning in.

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