Democrats and Republicans need cannabis to exorcise the ghosts of elections past

You may have noticed both U.S. political parties are currently haunted. The apparitions? Ghosts of elections past.

As it stands today, Republicans are doing the better job of exorcising their electoral demons, with Glenn Youngkin’s victory in Virginia as perhaps the most stunning example. The challenge now is President Biden’s, to deliver a common sense, easy-to-understand victory for the American people in time for 2022. He has a clear opportunity in cannabis legislation. 

If we could, like Ebenezer Scrooge from A Christmas Carol, make phantom visits to the dinner tables of present-day voters, we would see how average Americans are struggling with the contradictions of today’s cannabis policies. 

We’d hear the outrage. How can this nation continue to tolerate the impacts of unfairly targeted cannabis enforcement, which falls heavily on people of color and undermines their employment, education, and housing opportunities—often forever?

But mostly, we’d hear the anger at Washington. Why can’t leaders deliver a rational, consistent, nationwide cannabis policy? Why the constant gridlock? Why the harmful holdup? Both parties would be rewarded for achieving cannabis reform.

The current political calculus overwhelmingly favors cannabis legalization. Public support is at a five-year high and is no longer limited to the left-of-center. Today, more than half of Republicans back cannabis reform. In 2020, voters in red Montana and purple Arizona approved ballot measures allowing recreational use, making cannabis fully legal in a majority of states.

In 2022, all eyes will be on the U.S. Senate, where Sens. Cory Booker, Ron Wyden, and Chuck Schumer are expected to introduce The Cannabis Administration & Opportunity Act. Bipartisan compromise is truly possible.

Reaching this compromise is in both parties’ interests, too. Democrats, starting with President Biden, must lead on cannabis policy or risk ceding the very real voter enthusiasm it inspires to more libertarian voices. Republicans sense the opportunity in freedom-laced arguments for cannabis reform. Incumbents, especially those in moderate states and districts, are eager to seize the issue as their own. 

These forces may soon converge to push sensible, bipartisan cannabis reform legislation through an otherwise divided Congress. Such a once-in-a-generation accomplishment would advance social equity, create millions of jobs, and generate billions in federal taxes that could be invested in programs to help families, veterans, communities of color, and small businesses through the rest of the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.