In recent years, cannabis reform has been seeping beyond the ideologies of only the most far left and into the political beliefs of about 70 percent of the country.
Those often affiliated with American conservatism especially have been becoming more vocal and supportive of cannabis reform, either decriminalization and medical expansion or full-fledged recreational legalization. Texas Cannabis Collective has written extensively about that very apparent and vast support. Support for the ending of this costly and ultimately useless prohibition from the right side of the political aisle. Particularly within Texas, the state has seen several high-profile Republicans begin to turn around their views on the plant.
Although he doesn’t support full-scale recreational legalization, Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller has stated on multiple occasions that he supports medical expansion, low-level decriminalization, making the Texas hemp industry the best in the nation and that he himself uses CBD products. In a 2018 Gubernatorial debate, current Governor Greg Abbott expressed interest in “reducing criminal penalties” associated with low-level possession. Although in the following July, he urged Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot not to go forward with the new DA’s plans of implementing diversion programs and lessening the criminal penalties for possession in Dallas County, so who knows how the former Texas Supreme Court judge turned Governor truly feels about cannabis?
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Groups that we’ve interviewed in Texas such as Houston Young Republicans that certainly have more conservative-leaning membership have stated their support for reform on multiple occasions. A handful of cannabis reform-related bills passed out of the Texas House of Representatives during the 2019 Legislative Session and received ample support from Texas Republicans. House Bill 63, a decriminalization bill, has 37 House Republicans vote in favor of the measure. The medical expansion bill, House Bill 1365, 67 House Republicans voted in favor of.
Yet no matter how strong and present the conservative support for cannabis reform is within the Lone Star State, the growing acceptance for reforms and voting accordingly doesn’t seem to extend to Texas Republicans in Congress however.
The MORE Act, or the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act, is a federal bill that would enact and accomplish great reforms for cannabis throughout the country. It’s a bill that would remove cannabis from Schedule I as well as many of the issues that legal cannabis businesses face on the federal level. The bill has a special focus on reinvesting in communities most impacted by the Drug War.
Its benefits are far-reaching and would certainly solve many societal, financial and personal issues facing Texans who support cannabis reform. And citing voting records of the bills in the 2019 Legislative Session and comments made by several Texas Republicans that range in experience and clout, one would assume that most Congressional Republicans from Texas would vote in favor of the MORE Act.
And disappointedly, not a SINGLE Texas Congressional Republican voted in favor of the MORE Act. Not a single member, from COVID denier to COVID recipient Louie Gohmert to Lubbock Congressman Jodey Arrington to Navy SEAL veteran and a rising star in the national Republican Party, 36-year-old Dan Crenshaw.
In fact, four Texas Republicans straight up didn’t vote on the matter, opting to rather stay out of the matter of sweeping federal cannabis reforms entirely. Quite a great job in representing their constituents if I must say so and what a benefit that must be to make an average of $174,000 a year yet essentially refuse to do your one job anyway.
The results of each Texas Congress member’s voting record shows the clear contrast in viewpoint from the state representatives versus the federal representatives. While there are an expanding number of Republicans within Texas and nationwide who support reforms such as those which are present in the text of The MORE Act, Texas’ GOP representatives in Congress particularly still hold very prohibitionist views.
And yet, certain representatives’ reasoning for opposing the bill is a bit contradictory to say it lightly. As reported by Marijuana Moment, a recurring theme throughout GOP members’ opposition to voting in favor of the MORE Act was due to the lack of coronavirus-related relief bills that have been passed.
“Nothing for small businesses. Nothing for reopening schools. Nothing on battling the pandemic.” said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). “They’re picking weed over workers.”
“Nancy Pelosi is blocking a bill to deliver unused Paycheck Protection Program funds to workers and small businesses. But she managed to find time for a vote on pot legislation this week.” said Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA).
Many Republican House Twitter accounts chastised what they viewed as Nancy Pelosi and the House Democrats’ priorities being dangerously out of line and detached from common sense. The unused PPP funds mentioned by Rep. Scalise were a common talking point, seeing the use of those funds and Pelosi’s apparent disregard for allocating those funds as irresponsible and “out of step with the American people.”
Strangely, a big point of opposition from House Republicans in regards to the MORE Act had been created from the accompanying bill to be discussed in Congress. The Big Cat Public Safety Act, otherwise known as the “Tiger King” bill due to its popularity stemming from the Netflix spectacle, possibly of the century, would effectively regulate the sale and trade of the species of big cats featured in the documentary.
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Exactly how much of the outlandish and legally questionable behavior involving the big cat trade witnessed in droves within “Tiger King” would now become illegal is still to be seen. However, the bill was championed and lobbied endlessly by the Big Cat Rescue owner and Florida woman who totally definitely didn’t kill her husband in any way. The villain or hero or maybe both of “Tiger King”, Carole Baskin.
Luckily, the MORE Act passed out of the House with a vote of 228-164. Of the 164 members who voted nay, 158 of those were from Republicans. Of the entire GOP delegation in Congress, only five of those Republicans voted in favor of the MORE Act. 34 GOP representatives and even 4 Democrats decided to forgo voting entirely.
But Senate Majority Leader Franklin the Turtle, I mean Mitch McConnell, has been a longtime opponent of THC-containing cannabis and unless both Georgia Senate elections go to Democrats, the MORE Act could die in the Senate. Although it may help that the head of the Senate will also be the woman who authored the MORE Act, the prosecutor turned California senator turned the first woman to ever serve as Vice President, Kamala Harris. Yet if Republicans still hold the majority, it’ll be a tumultuous ending regardless of how the bill performs.
As someone who respects Congressman Crenshaw, how he’s served this country first in uniform and now in Congress and the fact that he represents District 2 which I myself grew up in of the Northwest Spring/Tomball area, I was a bit disappointed to see the new face of young Republicans in Congress come out so strong against the MORE Act and use the same rhetoric of his party at the same time.
In a video posted to his Instagram profile, Crenshaw explained that he would be open to lessening the criminal penalties of cannabis and descheduling.
“I think America is ready for that kind of conversation,” Crenshaw said about the debate on decriminalization.
And then, like the millions of times that cannabis advocates fighting the good fight have heard come out of the gossipy and far too judgmental mouth of every anti-cannabis Karen crusader, Crenshaw brought up the “think about the children” argument.
“How is a parent supposed to have a conversation with their kids about marijuana?” Crenshaw rhetorically asked, completely disregarding the endless communities of cannabis consumers who are also parents to however many children, the number of which I literally can’t comprehend. As an employee of the legal Nevada cannabis industry, I can attest that many of my present and former co-workers and advocates are amazing and caring parents themselves who’ve had no issues explaining the concept of cannabis to their children whatsoever, but I think Crenshaw chose to disregard individuals like that.
“It’s hard for a mom to tell her kids they shouldn’t be smoking marijuana or eating edibles at a young age when it’s been so normalized by society. It’s not a party. It’s something that has to be taken seriously.”
Crenshaw finalized his argument by bringing up the potency issue, one frequently stated by prohibitionists about how the cannabis grown today is far more potent than the cannabis grown in the 1970s. Furthermore, he stated that the potency of cannabis isn’t regulated these days. Once again, as a Nevada cannabis employee, I can assure our readers that this statement is a simple falsehood.
It would be tremendous honor to personally give Congressman Crenshaw a tour of the cultivation facility I’m employed by and the retail side of cannabis to show how detailed and meticulously regulated every aspect of the plant’s potency is and which consumers are allowed to purchase them. The invitation remains open.
Crenshaw then said that “you have no idea what you’re getting when you eat an edible” which in a prohibitionist state such as Texas may be true, but according to the regulations mirrored after states like Nevada that I’m sure the MORE Act would be instrumental in setting, it’s far from the truth.
Every edible cannabis product packaging must have the contents of the package, including THC percentages and which type of cannabis strain the product is derived from and how many THC milligrams are in each edible. They’re usually sold as gummies, chocolates, brownie bites sugary juice or another sweet that’s easily split into individual units so a consumer doesn’t overdo their consumption.
“It’s not the same as alcohol.” he finished. “It doesn’t affect you the same. We don’t consume it the same. Also, alcohol is deeply regulated, so we’re used to it as a society.”
Alcohol is an intoxicating substance that’s legal now but highly regulated. It was once prohibited until America learned how terrible of an idea that was, and alcohol was legal and regulated to great success economically. Prohibition itself was a costly failure and due to unregulated manufacturing practices, several died from batches of tainted alcohol. Everyone agrees that alcohol prohibition, without exception, was an unmitigated disaster and one that we all view as a mistake in practice.
Sounds like another newly legal and blossoming industry I know of and am fully employed by, but that’s none of my business.
Overall, these voting numbers show irrefutable proof of how divisive and not fully monolithic the subject of cannabis reform is within the nationwide GOP as a whole, and Texas is a perfect microcosm of that dilemma. Despite the noticeable support for cannabis reform among Texas GOP members and the part actually including low-level decriminalization and medical expansion in their 2018 platform, the opposition towards common sense and comprehensive cannabis reform will remain prevalent for quite some time.