Photo by Esteban López
Seventy percent of Americans, including majorities of both Democratic and Republican voters, say that marijuana should be legal. Yet far too often, lawmakers choose to either ignore this constituency or treat them with outright hostility.
In Republican-led states like Nebraska, Ohio, and Texas, elected officials are making it clear that election outcomes legalizing marijuana no longer matter to them. And in Democratic-led states like Maryland, Michigan, and New Jersey, lawmakers are seeking to undermine existing legalization markets by drastically hiking marijuana-related taxes.
In all cases, elected officials are treating cannabis consumers as targets, not constituents.
Earlier this year, Republican lawmakers in South Dakota sought to repeal the state’s medical cannabis access law, despite 70 percent of voters having approved it. The effort failed, but only by a single vote.
In Nebraska, lawmakers are also considering legislation to roll back the state’s voter-approved medical marijuana law — and Republican Attorney General Mike Hilgers has urged lawmakers to ignore the election results altogether.
In Ohio, GOP lawmakers in the Senate recently approved legislation to rescind many of the legalization provisions approved by 57 percent of voters in 2023. Changes advanced by lawmakers include limiting home-cultivation rights and creating new crimes for adults who share cannabis with one another or purchase legal cannabis products from out of state.
In Texas, Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued several cities, including Dallas, for implementing voter-approved ordinances decriminalizing marijuana possession. As a result, local lawmakers in various cities — including Lockhart and Bastrop — are ignoring voters’ decisions to amend their municipal marijuana policies rather than face costly litigation.
In Idaho, Republican Governor Brad Little signed mandatory minimum penalties into law for low-level marijuana possession. And GOP lawmakers have approved a constitutional amendment forbidding voters from weighing in on any future ballot measure to legalize marijuana.
And in Florida, where a 2024 marijuana legalization narrowly failed — it received majority support but less than the 60 percent threshold required under the state law — Republican Governor Ron DeSantis is leading the charge to make it harder for future petitions to qualify for the ballot.
These concerted attacks are an explicit reminder that the war on cannabis and its consumers remains ongoing — and in some cases is even escalating.
Blue states haven’t made moves to roll back legalization or reverse election results. But several Democratic governors are looking to balance their budget deficits on the backs of consumers.
For instance, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy has proposed raising the state’s marijuana-related taxes nearly five-fold. A Maryland budget proposal seeks to nearly double the special sales tax consumers pay on retail marijuana purchases. And in Michigan, Governor Gretchen Whitmer has proposed an additional 32 percent wholesale tax on cannabis.
If enacted, these proposed increases will not only lighten consumers’ wallets, but they will also hurt state-licensed businesses. As lawmakers push marijuana prices artificially higher, many consumers will exit the legal market and begin patronizing the unregulated marketplace, undermining one of the primary goals of legalization.
Regardless of whether you live in a red or blue state, or in a jurisdiction where cannabis is legal or illicit, it’s time for legalization advocates to stand up and assert themselves. Cannabis consumers are neither criminals nor ATMs. They’re hard-working responsible adults. And they vote.
Now is not the time to become complacent or presume that marijuana will somehow legalize itself. Change only occurs when advocates agitate for it — and when elected officials fear political consequences for failing to abide by voters’ demands.
Those who support legalizing marijuana aren’t part of the ideological fringe. They’re the majority. It’s time for advocates to act like it — and for lawmakers to treat cannabis consumers with the respect they deserve.
