It’s 4/20, which, if you didn’t know, is a big day for weed enthusiasts. Here’s CNN, no less, to explain why.
To mark the occasion, politicians both local and national (mostly Democrats) have been using social media to talk about how they’re ready to decriminalize or legalize marijuana.
Here in Maryland, tech entrepreneur and gubernatorial candidate Alec Ross decided to show his support for legalization with a series of knee-slapping puns.
I’m so s(toke)d about legalizing and regulating marijuana in Maryland. My plan is packed tight with nuggets to support a budding industry, while ensuring the safety of our citizens.
Legalization is a no-brainer for MD!
— Alec Ross (@AlecJRoss) April 20, 2018
There’s even a YouTube video with more puns.
Sorry, Alec, but this reads a lot like:
The website Marijuana Moment, however, thought it was a “good tweet.”
Looking a little more seriously at Ross’ plan, it calls for a regulated market that could bring in hundreds of millions in revenue and reverse past injustices that have disproportionately affected people of color.
In addition to setting up a licensing system “for all stages of cannabis production,” Ross says he would create a “simple path to expungement” for anyone with a prior arrest record or conviction, with a portion of revenue from weed going to educational programs and legal aide for expunging records.
Also today, candidate Krish Vignarajah, a former adviser to former first lady Michelle Obama, released a statement saying she supported legalization.
“Legalizing medical marijuana has tangible public health benefits, like creating significant reductions in the number of opioid-related overdoses,” the statement said. “Further, the taxation of marijuana could become an important source of revenue to fund education in Maryland, but the cultivation and sale of cannabis also needs careful regulation and fair competition for licenses to ensure that people of color are not shut out from the potential economic opportunities.”
Former NAACP president Ben Jealous told Baltimore Fishbowl back in January that he supported legal weed. Just today, according to the Associated Press, the candidate spoke at the National Cannabis Policy Summit in Washington, D.C. and said that in addition to record expungement, people most affected by current laws should get preference for jobs in the industry.
Sen. Richard Madaleno also supports legalization and taxation of recreational pot, and has pushed for such efforts as a legislator.
Though he doesn’t appear to have outlined a broader policy, former Venable chairman Jim Shea publicly said he supports legalization at a candidate forum. Meanwhile, Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker said at the same forum that he supported the state’s law decriminalizing pot, but he stopped short of calling for legalization.
Per The Sun, Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz has not taken a public position.
Gov. Larry Hogan hasn’t taken a clear position either, though he did veto a bill to decriminalize possession of marijuana paraphernalia and smoking in public in 2015.
