While the state of Texas may have the former Solicitor General and probable Zodiac Killer serve as their junior Senator for another four years at a minimum, the state’s senior senator is up for re-election. Former Attorney General and current Chair of the Senate Narcotics Committee John Cornyn, is running for re-election for the Senate seat in his increasingly blueing state. Despite the surprisingly narrow lead that Cruz won in his 2018 Senate election over his skateboarding rockstar Congressman opponent, Cornyn is sitting pretty on his Senate throne, probably completely unaware that Austin’s more progressive values are spreading throughout the state and certainly affecting the voting demographics.
To his credit, the Senator who’s served Texas for almost two decades won his primary easily, winning 76 percent of the 1.9 millions casted votes. His closest polling rival, Dwayne Stovall, only won about 12 percent of the vote. The three-term Senator may have a loyal fanbase in Texas, but the deeply red Republican’s antiquated views on cannabis and greater criminal justice reform are the furthest view from progressive.
(Photo Credit: US Senate)
Cornyn hasn’t been one to hide his prohibitionist views or his skepticism towards cannabis’ clearly affirmed medicinal benefits. Just as recently as October of last year, Cornyn said that he believes that “we lack definitive evidence on the short and long term health implications of marijuana use for vulnerable populations such as adolescence, pregnant women and people suffering from mental health issues.” and cited a Surgeon General’s report about how cannabis could possibly negatively impact pregnant women, completely omitting any mention of veterans, some pediatric patients and elderly folks, all of whom are growing demographics in medical cannabis usage.
He furthermore compared the millions of deeply personal claims about cannabis’ effectiveness to decades-old false advertising from the tobacco industry about how smoking cigarettes were supposedly healthy. A Dallas Morning News article from July of 2019 shows that Cornyn has received significant campaign donations from The GEO Group, one of the largest for-profit, private prison industries whose facilities have been accused of some horrific actions and conditions.
However for more forward-thinking and private prison-opposing Texans, his Democratic opponents have proven records that show far more progressive stances towards cannabis for medical and recreational uses.
(Photo Credit: MJ Hegar Campaign)
Air Force Major veteran, advocate and writer MJ Hegar is one of the two Democratic candidates for Senate in the 2020 election. A resident of Round Rock and a Purple Heart veteran due to a 2009 helicopter shoot down during her third tour in Afghanistan. She was awarded in 2011 with the Distinguished Flying Cross due to her actions in this mission. She taught at UT Austin’s McCombs School of Business and in March of 2017, released her memoirs entitled “Shoot Like a Girl”.
In February, KVUE in Austin ran a segment where viewers could vote on which questions would be asked to the Senate candidates, and cannabis questions won by a margin of 38%, a clear majority to say it lightly.
“I just feel like someone has to say, I don’t think Texas should ever do anything following California.” Hegar explained. “I don’t think we should make any policies because California’s leading on that, that’s for sure. I can tell you whether it’s the impact of criminal justice, the tax revenue we could get from it, clearly I think most people agree that we should legalize marijuana. Being a veteran and being in a community where people suffer, whether it’s from high suicide rates, or PTSD or the opioid epidemic, this is something that marijuana could help in every chapter. And the reason I think it needs to go beyond medical is that most veterans are not self-identifying and seeking treatment and doing the necessary things that it would take to actually get a prescription.”
Her opponent in the primaries is longtime serving District 23 Senator Royce West. Serving only District 23 his entire Texas Senate career, he’s served in that role since 1992, as long as I’ve been alive. During his almost three decades of experience, the Managing Partner of West and Associates L.L.P and University of Houston Law Center graduate has voted across the aisle numerous times despite being a lifelong Democrat. In 2019, West voted to raise the smoking age to 21, in favor of handguns at place of worships and a Texas government boycott of companies that don’t support Israel’s right to exist.
(Photo Credit: Thao Nguyen, Houston Chronicle)
However, he also voted against Open Carry of Handguns in 2015 and nearly every abortion restriction presented by the Texas Legislature. West authored Senate Bill 158 in 2014, which required law enforcement wear body camera equipment. On three separate occasions in the 2000’s, he voted in favor of needle exchange programs to reduce the rates of illnesses caused by dirty IV drug needle usage.
In that aforementioned KVUE segment about cannabis, West said that he agreed with candidate Annie “Mama” Garcia’s stance on national legalization.
“When you begin to look at the incarceration rate, 47% of all persons that are incarcerated are there because of drug-related offenses.” West explained. “Garcia said 50% for marijuana. It makes no sense at all, especially when you’re talking about $31,000 per year in terms of incarceration and half of the persons incarcerated are there because of drug offenses. We need to make certain that we get those persons out, give them treatment if they need to, but make certain that we have an infrastructure, a legal infrastructure in place, that takes care of the issues concerning marijuana. Marijuana should, in fact, be legalized across this country.”
In the debate KXAN hosted yesterday, both candidates support full-scale cannabis reform. West mentioned his rapport with Dallas County DA John Cruzot authorship of SB 400, which would’ve authorized the possession, distribution and cultivation of cannabis.
Hegar mentioned her experience in the Counterdrug Task Force and the ineffectiveness of keeping cannabis illegal, discussing that cannabis prohibition only increases the profits and activities of both the cartels and the big players in the private prison industry. She brought up the support of Cornyn among groups such as the GEO Group and how he legislates accordingly based on their interests.
Both candidates also agree that incarcerated cannabis offenders should be released and have their records expunged if their only offense is a victimless, non-violent offense. The moderator then asked if either candidate had used cannabis and both candidates raised their hands, although neither candidate spoke proudly of their past use of cannabis.
Hegar didn’t wish to speak further on it and West called it a “youthful indiscretion”. Still though, both candidate’s records and stances on cannabis are undeniably far more pro-cannabis reform and pro-greater criminal justice reform as a whole.
Large scale criminal justice reform would do Texas well, as a report published by the Prison Policy Initiative shows that Texas’ incarceration rate is 891 per 100,000 people, an astronomically higher rate than some entire democratic countries such as Norway, Canada, Italy, Belgium and Iceland.