Greg Abbott received a letter score of a D on NORML’s Governor Scorecard for 2020.
In the past, Governor Abbott had scored a D in 2017, and a C- in 2019. In 2017 Abbott’s stance was one of not allowing any sort of medical marijuana program to expand, despite ensuring that the 2015 Compassionate Use program was updated. Abbott was not seeing criminal justice reform taking place with cannabis during that session.
In 2019 Abbott’s score went up to a C-, possibly due to his stance of wanting to see decriminalization come to his desk for the 86th legislative session. It may have also went up relatively speaking to his other Republican colleagues. Republican governors who for the most part have not supported marijuana legalization at all. An effort was made to reach out to NORML (not to be confused with TXNORML, which has no bearing on this report), but a reply was not returned at the time of writing about how the governors are scored.
One could speculate that the reason for a decrease to D again would hinge on the statement NORML provided on their site, “Governor Abbott has expressed a willingness to consider legislation decriminalizing low-level marijuana possession offenses, but has also publicly criticized efforts by some local District Attorneys to cease filing cannabis possession prosecutions. (Link) “
Edit: NORML did respond shortly after writing and this is how it was gauged, “The Scorecard weighs legislative activity and public comments. Strongest weight is given to actions specific to adult-use legalization, less weight is given to actions specific to decriminalization, medical access, and CBD access. The rise in Gov. Abbott’s grade 2019 was largely due to his public comments at that time supportive of decriminalization. This marked a change in his past position, and increased the prospects of legislative activity specific to decriminalization that legislative session.
Decriminalization legislation was ultimately unsuccessful that session. Further, the Gov. has since spoken out in opposition to specific municipal actions depenalizing minor cannabis possession offenses. In 2019, he did sign legislation into law expanding the state’s limited CBD access law, though state regulators have since proceeded to cease accepting applications from CBD providers, thus restricting access potentially even further — hence the change in his grade from 2019 to 2020. “
Abbott surprisingly is not the worst when it comes to cannabis though. Mark Gordon (R) – Wyoming, Bill Lee (R) – Tennessee, Kristi Noem (R) – South Dakota, Mike DeWine (R) – Ohio, Henry McMaster (R) – South Carolina, Pete Ricketts (R) – Nebraska, Brad Little (R) – Idaho, and Eric Holcomb (R) – Indiana all received scores of F from NORML. As stated on their site, “No Republicans are on record in support of adult-use legalization and few are in favor of regulating medical cannabis access… This partisan divide is not similarly reflected among the general public. According to national polling data compiled by Gallup in October 2019, 66 percent of the public — including majorities of self-identified Democrats, Republicans, and Independents — favor adult-use legalization.”
We have work to do, let’s get to it.