No, Cannabis Won’t Come Up In The Presidential Debates—Nor Will It Decide The Election (Op-Ed)

“National politicians don’t see this as a useful issue with swing voters and aren’t willing to dedicate any precious campaign moments to it.”

By Adam Terry, Cantrip

If you are terminally online in the bowels of Cannabis Twitter, you will see constant and frequent discussion about rescheduling, SAFE banking and a raging debate about “which party is better on cannabis.” Overwhelming hope and speculation swirls this election season, with mobile phone pundits eager for any crumb of a cannabis policy to be expressed by a major party candidate during some sort of major event.

But here’s the real truth: It is simply not going to happen.

I have long maintained that the bipartisan popularity of cannabis has made it largely a dead issue on the national stage. In an age of calcified polarization, the issues that presidential candidates want to focus on are what differentiate them from one another (whether real or perceived): immigration, healthcare, the economy—you know, the classics.

At the end of the day, because cannabis legalization is at an all-time high for support, the parties do not see the issue as a useful cudgel with which to bash their opponents. Whether that is true or not is irrelevant—if the campaigns think it is true, then the issue will not be raised more than in a minor capacity.

Each campaign is hyper-focused on a narrow band of undecided voters, and neither campaign thinks cannabis is the issue that will put them over the top. In a recent poll in cooperation with YouGov and published by Statista, cannabis did not show in the rankings—and criminal justice reform barely cracked 1 percent. It is not discussed often by major pundits, news networks, popular podcasts or in other political content.

Simply put—no one cares but us.

I care deeply about drug policy reform in this country. Not only is rescheduling vital to the success of the burgeoning recreational marijuana industry to improve access and create a more competitive environment, but federal descheduling and legalization is necessary to create national access to this vital product.

We must also reduce burdensome regulations on operating marijuana businesses, expand what products are available (and where) and bring hemp and marijuana laws in concert with one another—using what we’ve learned as a nation to preserve the best parts of both programs while doing away with unnecessary and even harmful parts of these programs.

Given that federal action is slow and unlikely to go far in the near or medium term, it is also critical to continue to lobby for state reforms concerning both hemp and marijuana. It is vital to assess the political landscape with clear eyes and avoid dealmaking with politicians who cannot be trusted. We must continue to push where the real action happens—state and local governments—and stop expecting much to happen at the federal level until we’ve brought every U.S. state into the fold.

But if you’re expecting to see any discussion of this beyond a few minor comments during a press conference—you will continue to be disappointed. Neither major party candidate has the time or interest in this issue—and that’s the truth.

Adam Terry is the co-founder and CEO of the THC-infused beverage company Cantrip.

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