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Weed wins galvanize Capitol Hill's anti-cannabis club
Fighting weed legalization on Capitol Hill can feel like a lonely struggle these days.
Marijuana is just as popular as ever. More than half of Americans now live in states where adults can legally possess the drug, and just over two-thirds support federal legalization. In Congress, more and more lawmakers — on both sides of the aisle — express some form of support for legal cannabis in the states.
Yet a small but vocal, ad-hoc coalition of lawmakers — almost all Republicans — is keeping the anti-weed fight alive in Washington. And they’re not exactly losing.
The lawmakers, while still disorganized, scored several notable victories in recent months, thwarting progress on key cannabis bills and leaving die-hard supporters of federal legalization conceding they had been briefly outmaneuvered.
“We have entered the ‘fight you’ stage,” said Justin Strekal, founder of a pro-legalization PAC and former political director at the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. The losses to the conservative lawmakers, Strekal said, offered a reminder that things “can go very wrong at the very end.”
Marijuana is just as popular as ever. More than half of Americans now live in states where adults can legally possess the drug, and just over two-thirds support federal legalization. In Congress, more and more lawmakers — on both sides of the aisle — express some form of support for legal cannabis in the states.
Yet a small but vocal, ad-hoc coalition of lawmakers — almost all Republicans — is keeping the anti-weed fight alive in Washington. And they’re not exactly losing.
The lawmakers, while still disorganized, scored several notable victories in recent months, thwarting progress on key cannabis bills and leaving die-hard supporters of federal legalization conceding they had been briefly outmaneuvered.
“We have entered the ‘fight you’ stage,” said Justin Strekal, founder of a pro-legalization PAC and former political director at the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. The losses to the conservative lawmakers, Strekal said, offered a reminder that things “can go very wrong at the very end.”
[link:https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/23/capitol-hill-anti-cannabis-club-00121487|