PHILADELPHIA — Pro-marijuana advocates are hopeful the Democratic National Convention this week in Philadelphia will serve as a prominent springboard for the next steps to legalize the drug, saying potential progress at the federal level would likely go up in smoke in a Donald Trump administration.
“I think that they are walking the walk,” Chris Goldstein, of the advocacy group PhillyNORML, said of the Democrats.
The party’s platform this year encourages the federal government to remove marijuana from the list of Schedule I controlled substances and to appropriately regulate it, “providing a reasoned pathway for future legalization.”
The convention’s platform committee also said states that want to decriminalize it or provide access to medical marijuana should be able to do so.
“Certainly, marijuana reform is something that has a lot of support from the young Republicans and within the mainstream of the Republican Party,” Mr. Goldstein said. “If the Democrats seek to sort of hog this issue and also hog the campaign contributions associated with it, that could be tough.”
“Think about cannabis consumers as a voting bloc,” he said. “People who can afford to spend 60 or a hundred dollars a week on the pot can also spend $27 on [a] campaign contribution. Your marijuana smokers of America are like your NPR audience — they’re people you know have money.”
Pro-marijuana advocates congregated in Philadelphia on Monday on the first day of the Democratic convention, with some carrying a giant inflatable joint through the streets of the city.
“Sixty percent of the population supports pot now, so it’s a pretty safe bet for them to come out with something really vague, which is what they did,” said Dana Beal, a longtime pro-marijuana advocate associated with the “Yippie” movement. “But what I liked was it [sets] a pathway towards legalization.”
Tom Angell, the chairman of the group Marijuana Majority, says the fact that one of the two major political parties in the country is on record as supporting a road map to legalization and removing it from the list of Schedule I drugs is “quite momentous.”
The Drug Enforcement Administration defines Schedule I drugs under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) as having “no currently accepted medical use and high potential for abuse.” Others include heroin, LSD and Ecstasy.
While campaigning in California during the Democratic primary, Sen. Bernard Sanders expressed support for a marijuana legalization ballot item voters there will decide on this fall, and has introduced legislation to remove marijuana from the CSA.
Mr. Angell stressed that his group is nonpartisan and does not endorse political candidates — but he also said the party’s push on the issue likely would not have happened without Mr. Sanders in the race.
“That forced all the other candidates to talk about it,” he said.
Likely Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has said she’d like to move marijuana off the Schedule I list and that she supports medical marijuana. Republican nominee Donald Trump, meanwhile, has said it’s a state-by-state issue but that he supports medical marijuana.
Philadelphia actually loosened its marijuana laws in 2014, making possession of up to about 1 ounce punishable by a $25 fine and public use punishable by up to a $100 fine.
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf also signed a measure legalizing medical marijuana in the state earlier this year.
On the other side of the aisle, Mr. Goldstein cited Rep. Dana Rohrabacher of California and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky as examples of Republicans who have worked on the issue.
But he said Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, the GOP vice presidential nominee, and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who was on the VP short list and could serve as attorney general in a Trump administration, would be no friend to cannabis users.
“For cannabis in America, for this emerging, multibillion-dollar industry, Mike Pence, Chris Christie standing behind Donald Trump is a — I can’t say it any more emphatically — it is a major threat,” he said.
During his own campaign for president, Mr. Christie warned he’d be the cop who’d break up the legal pot party in states like Colorado and Washington if elected, saying he would reverse the Obama administration’s nonenforcement approach in such states.
As for Mr. Pence, Mr. Goldstein said Indiana has among the strictest penalties in the country for marijuana possession in the country and that the governor has opposed changes to them.
“All those Republicans who sit at home with a joint at the end of the day are not likely to vote for Chris Christie or Mike Pence,” he said.
Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party’s presidential nominee, has long said he thinks President Obama is going to move the drug from the Schedule I list on his way out of office.
“In this case, Hillary is the nominee,” Mr. Johnson said. “She still skirts the issue.”
Mr. Goldstein said he’s only met a single Sanders supporter who actually intends to vote for Mr. Trump, but said things are still very much up in the air, and he’s concerned many will just stay home.
“I think the Democratic Party is trying anything they can to keep the Sanders supporters within their purview, because, honestly, most of the Sanders supporters I know who are also cannabis consumers really are not instantly buying in for Hillary Clinton,” he said.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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