Marijuana Business Magazine November-December 2019

Marijuana Business Magazine | November-December 2019 54 that have long-established medical or recreational marijuana markets. Home cultivation of marijuana could be thrown out the window as well; it’s not as though medical patients are allowed to make their own cocaine or fentanyl at home. All of this means that those in the cannabis industry will have more motivation to vote in the Democratic primaries, since Biden’s opponents in the race are much more marijuana-friendly. Other Top Contenders Booker, the most cannabis-friendly of the candidates, has long backed marijuana legalization as part of a broader social justice and criminal reform platform. He’s sponsored several pieces of cannabis legislation while in the U.S. Senate, including the Marijuana Justice Act, the CARERS Act and more. Another major proponent of mari- juana legalization is U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent who has long championed the repeal of federal MJ prohibition. He was one of the co-sponsors of the Marijuana Justice Act, alongside Booker, and has also sponsored the SAFE Banking Act. Sanders said earlier this year that as president he would legalize marijuana via executive order, if necessary. U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren has warmed to marijuana legalization in recent years, despite her initial hesitation to throw her weight behind recreational legalization in her home state of Massachusetts. But since then, like Booker and Sanders, she’s sponsored multiple bills in the Senate to reform federal MJ laws, including the Marijuana Justice Act, the STATES Act and the SAFE Banking Act. U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris has one of the wobbliest records on marijuana reform, in part because of her record as a longtime prosecutor in her home state of California, where she has a lengthy history of jailing cannabis consumers. But she’s flipped on the issue and has been vocally cham- pioning federal legalization, even putting her name on the MORE Act to decriminalize marijuana and establish a national tax, essentially legalizing nationwide sales of cannabis. She’s also co-sponsoring the SAFE Banking Act and the Marijuana Justice Act in the Senate. Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Indiana, rounds out the top six contenders for the Democratic nomination, according to figures from polling site FiveThirtyEight, but he has far less of a record to examine than other candidates because he hails from Indiana, which has not yet legalized any form of cannabis except for hemp-derived CBD products. But Buttigieg has come out clearly in favor of federal cannabis legalization. How all of this figures into the Democratic primary is still uncertain because marijuana legalization often plays third fiddle to other political issues such as the economy, health care, immigration and foreign policy. But it also means that marijuana industry stakeholders may be posi- tioned to play an important role in how the Democratic primaries play out. It’s quite possible that Biden, if elected, may soften his position on marijuana, given how disruptive it would be to the current industry and how much blowback he’d likely get from members of Congress who represent states with thriving cannabis markets. Of course, there’s no guarantee of that. But it’s safe to say that those who are both in the marijuana space and hoping Trump gets replaced next year could have a hard time backing Biden if they believe their livelihoods are at stake. And this could make the canna- bis industry a very conflicted batch of swing voters in the 2020 election. John Schroyer is a senior reporter for Marijuana Business Magazine. You can reach him at johns@mjbizdaily.com. U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Cory Gardner introduce bipartisan marijuana legislation. Courtesy Photo Trends & Hot Topics | John Schroyer