With less than 3 days left to vote, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders leads the TIME Person of the Year Poll, ahead of political rivals Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Sanders has far exceeded expectations in the 2016 Democratic primary and has helped dramatically improve how American political candidates discuss marijuana legalization and greater criminal justice reforms, especially among Democrats.
It was once unfathomable that a mainstream presidential candidate, with a serious chance of victory, would declare support for cannabis legalization, let alone declare the Drug War a failure, but Sanders’ positions have altered the Democratic landscape on the issue. Not only has Sanders called for an end to federal marijuana prohibition, but he has forced presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton to state a more progressive position as well.
TIME’s Person of the Year has included presidents John F. Kennedy, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, but a candidate has never won the honor. Bernie Sanders’ campaign has broken the mold in many respects, from his criminal justice policies; to his refusal to associate with a big-money Political Action Committee; to his defense of democratic socialist policies in the tradition of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal policies; and his recruitment of an army of small donors that have eclipsed even the numbers earned by Barack Obama.
The cannabis community has an opportunity to further demonstrate the broad support and enthusiasm for a candidate that has called for an end to a failed and harmful war waged upon nonviolent citizens. While TIME’s editors will ultimately make the call on the magazine’s Person of the Year, Sanders winning the readers’ poll will help continue the momentum of this unique candidate as well as our momentum to end the disastrous War on Drugs.
