Republicans now more progressive on pot legalization than Democrats

It's getting harder and harder to determine which is the conservative party and which is the liberal party. The latest example is the shift on marijuana policy.

President Trump has confirmed a deal with Colorado Senator Cory Gardner to let Colorado make its own cannabis legalization decisions in exchange for the Senator not holding up Department of Justice nominations. John Boehner joined the advisory board of a marijuana company, despite being anti-legalization when he was in the Speaker of the House in Congress. Pennsylvania recently said it will allow university hospitals to participate in clinical trials of cannabis.
Marijuana industry entrepreneurs are hoping they are on the cusp of a significant national transformation. These are “major breakthroughs” said Acreage Holdings chief executive Kevin Murphy. Acreage is the company Boehner joined, and it has ownership of marijuana growing, processing and retail facilities in eleven states.
Trump’s agreement to let Colorado, and presumably other states, decide on their own cannabis laws, goes directly against the actions of his attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Trump has "promised to support legislation protecting the marijuana industry" in states where it is now legal.
It doesn't end there.
Mitch McConnell, of all people, has introduced a bill to legalize hemp. Granted, that's not recreational or medical marijuana, but it's still an amazingly progressive stand for someone that is the exact opposite of cool and hip.

So where are the Democrats on this? Nowhere.

When asked, Democratic senators were cagey about how they felt about getting behind full legalization for recreational purposes, even in states that have taken the plunge.
Both California and Nevada voted in 2016 to legalize marijuana. But the two senators elected from those states that year sound less enthusiastic than the voters.
..California’s senior senator, Dianne Feinstein, who opposed the state’s efforts to legalize marijuana in 2016, dodged the question when asked about Sessions’ move to ramp up federal prosecution.
“It’s all unclear to me, and it’d be helpful to have some clarity so we know exactly what the situation is,” she said.

Even when the Democrat is right on legalization they are weak and incompetent.
A good example of how pathetic Democrats are on this issue is in New Jersey.

Murphy’s inauguration raised the expectations of many cannabis advocates to new heights. The Democrat campaigned hard on marijuana reform. On the trail, Murphy said he hoped to legalize recreational cannabis in New Jersey within his first 100 days in office.
Those 100 days expire on April 26, 2018, and it’s looking like cannabis advocates may have raised their expectations a little too high. Because something predictable happened on the way to Trenton: Opposition hardened, the Democrats splintered, the GOP went backwards, and the short-term odds for legalization dimmed.
...Scutari’s bill hasn’t received the fast-track reception Scutari and others hoped for, though. And it’s the party in power—the Democrats—who seem to be the main obstacle.
It’s an open secret that Trenton’s top legislator, Senate President Steve Sweeney, is gunning for Murphy’s seat in 2021—even though they’re both Democrats.

Marijuana legalization is just the latest issue where the Democrats have shifted so far to the right that Republicans can become the party of "the left" simply by standing still.
On neoliberalism, neoconservatism, even prison reform, the Republicans look a whole lot more moderate than Democrats these days.

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Pricknick's picture

which party carries the torch. I'll continue growing my medicine regardless.
I was a gorilla years ago until Michigan went medical legal. They could make it illegal again and I would still have an uninterrupted supply.

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Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

Small growers (and their unique, progressive culture) are now getting corporatized out of business because of betrayals by the California legislature. Just more takeover by the oligarchy, that's all Boehner and his marijuana corporation care about.

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Beware the bullshit factories.

more proof

Two studies published this week in JAMA Internal Medicine add to an increasing body of research hinting at an association between cannabis legalization and a reduction in opiate use.

The researchers involved in both studies utilized records of opiate prescriptions reported by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services, and analyzed how the prescription trends changed as a result of state-level changes in marijuana policy. Both studies, which utilize a larger data set than previous studies designed to address the same question, broadly reached the same conclusion: there are fewer prescriptions for opiates filled after a state legalizes medical or recreational marijuana.

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GreyWolf's picture

R's just outright lie but still get elected; they promoted trickle-down economics and locked up people in for-profit prisons to fight gateway drugs, and they bomb mythical WMD's, or mythical chemical weapons plants, just so they can spend more money on bombs ...

Now that pot is the new fad and there is big money to be made, the R's are first in line at the trough.

The D's were late to trickle-down economics, but they're finally there; the D's were late to for-profit prisons, but they're finally there; the D's were late to making money from war, but they're finally there; so of course the D's will be late to exploit for-profit marijuana, but they may eventually get there! (The D's are already late for their own funeral ... plus, the D's still haven't figured out the most basic trick in politics, how to outright lie and still get elected.) Obviously, the D's are amateurs, while Boehner's a pro follow-the-money flip-flopper ...

Marijuana money increasingly flowing to Republican lawmakers

John Boehner, former House speaker, joining cannabis company board

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The Liberal Moonbat's picture

@gjohnsit Hillary's just mad because Susan Sarandon beat her to becoming the iconic "small-town white-bread good girl who discovered liberation and conquest" by nearly 40 years.

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In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.

Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!

The Aspie Corner's picture

@The Liberal Moonbat

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Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.

Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.

Deja's picture

@The Liberal Moonbat
Sad
Miss her.

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The Liberal Moonbat's picture

@Deja I'm not sure what you're referring to.

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In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.

Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!

Deja's picture

@The Liberal Moonbat
She is a doll, imo; and she stopped coming around here quite a while back. I miss her energy and passion.

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Wink's picture

where the hell she been?!
@Deja

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the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.

For example, here in Minnesota we have a governor election this Fall. All of the dem candidates are pro-legal marijuana for recreation. It's coming.

Federal representatives are too beholden (bribed) to the pharmaceutical industry that doesn't want the competition from pot.

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progressive nowadays, riding coat tails. Making "progress" is empty hipster lingo in California, diluted beyond recognition. Another meaningless word bites the dust.

Deminvade LOL, if it were not so sad with poverty everywhere, and the homeless. Only Nobody can fix homelessness, but everybody is getting fat off the programs. My god I've never seen so many useless programs, you need a "specialist" to interpret the layers of oppression now. "That's the system." Okay, back to the regularly scheduled echo chamber, fake news, etc..

propaganda wars
please clap

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