Bernie Sanders has long been considered a longshot to defeat Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination. If he is going to be able to unseat the Democratic frontrunner, he has to win the New Hampshire primary (and the Iowa caucus would certainly be very helpful as well). New Hampshire […]

In Ravin v. State, the Alaska Supreme Court determined that the right to privacy under the Alaskan Constitution provided residents the constitutional protection to possess, cultivate and consume personal amounts of cannabis. The Alaskan justices found that the government didn’t prove that the harms of marijuana outweighed the privacy interest […]

Many cannabis law reform advocates and Drug War reformers have certainly rallied behind Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. The insurgent candidate has stated that he will consider legalizing marijuana; that states should be able to legalize without restrictions; he has called the Drug War a failure; and he has introduced a […]

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor strangely dismissed marijuana legalization when talking to college students about the importance of political engagement. Justice Sotomayor, as a lawyer and a judge, should know the significance of ending cannabis prohibition. It is alarming that a Supreme Court Justice, who invoked the Civil Rights Movement […]

Utah would seem to be fertile ground for GOP-outsider Ben Carson, a religious, soft-spoken neurosurgeon, but not democratic socialist Bernie Sanders, but both have surged ahead in the latest poll sanctioned by UtahPolicy.com. The poll, conducted by Dan Jones & Associates, found Carson leading national frontrunner Donald Trump 18% to […]

The Drug War has been a failed disaster by any measure, destroying lives and bankrupting budgets across our great nation. The mass incarceration of nonviolent people for drugs has been a tragic epidemic that has disproportionately hurt people of color and citizens living in poverty. For far too long, politicians […]

Today, at a Denver event billed as a “marijuana legalization listening session,” Democratic presidential candidate Martin O’Malley confirmed that, if elected, he would use his executive authority to reschedule cannabis as a Schedule 2 substance. He also indicated that he would be willing to push for full legalization after “two […]

The 2016 election is shaping up to be a landmark year for the cannabis community, with more marijuana legalization measures passed in any one year, not to mention a the potential to elect a president willing to allow states to legalize “without restriction“, at least support the ability of localities […]

Hat tip to Tom Angell over at Marijuana.com, who we first saw post about Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders’ comments on cannabis law and greater Drug War reform in an interview with Little Village, a public access program on Iowa public access radio. The progressive Democratic presidential candidate stated, “What the […]

The media has done its best to goad Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders to attack Hillary Clinton. To his credit, Sanders has stuck to his policy differences and has run an issues-oriented campaign. The anti-establishment candidate’s tactics have certainly worked as a majority of voters in the early states of Iowa […]

You have to have your head buried in the sand if you aren’t concerned about our environment. Arctic ice caps are melting, California is running out of water and the wildfires are raging up and down the West Coast. I am honestly very frightened for our planet. One of the […]

On Monday, Hillary Clinton said she would not crack down on state and cities with legal marijuana. Speaking at a campaign stop in Luther College, she expressed support for the right of states to implement their own marijuana laws free of federal intervention. This is certainly a moment which advocates […]

Latest CBS News 2016 Battleground Tracker poll has found Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders up 52% to 30% in New Hampshire and 43% to 33% in Iowa against Hillary Clinton. Even polling in South Carolina that has Clinton up 46% 23%  should be troubling for the Democratic frontrunner as she was […]

Breaking on Marijuana Politics: Democratic presidential candidate Martin O’Malley touts his progressive cannabis law reform history in a press release announcing a marijuana legalization listening session in Denver, Colorado, this Thursday. The event will be held at the office of Vicente Sederberg, a law firm that has been instrumental in […]

On the heels of the CNN poll showing that he is just 10 points behind Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton in nationally polls, a new Reuters poll has Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders just trailing by 8 points. This is an amazing shift in voter sentiment as Clinton has been handily beating […]

UPDATE: A new Reuters poll shows that the CNN survey is not an outlier, as Reuters has Sanders within single digits. The conventional wisdom was that the the Hillary Clinton campaign machine would steam roll Bernie Sanders and any other Democratic presidential candidate in her path. Pundits thought, and some […]

Clearly, it has become a detriment to support enforcing marijuana prohibition at the federal level, especially when that enforcement means that armed federal agents will be overriding the will of state voters that have passed marijuana measures. Marijuana Majority commissioned polls, conducted by Public Policy Polling, already found that a […]

In a rather shocking development, even for those that have long been supporters and of Bernie Sanders, the latest Qunnipiac poll has the Vermont Senator edging out Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton 41% to 40%. While this poll is clearly within the statistical margin of error, the most amazing development is the huge […]

As Marijuana Politics blogger Romain Bonilla recently posted, Hillary Clinton has strong financial ties to the private prison industry. These ties with the prison-industrial complex, mainly through common lobbyists, have been reported by a few blogs and rightfully make Drug War reformers suspicious of Clinton’s commitment to ending the use of […]

As most Americans have come to realize, the War on Drugs has been a phenomenal disaster. Triggering the arrest of millions of otherwise law-abiding Americans, it has contributed to an unprecedented pattern of mass incarceration, one which unfairly targets the poor and people of color. Despite its success in locking […]

Bernie Sanders has increased his lead on Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire according to the latest NBC/Marist poll. The progressive insurgent candidate that many cannabis law reform advocates have rallied around, has been the target of criticism from Clinton surrogates in recent day. Sanders responded that Clinton’s campaign must be […]

Monmouth University released its first Republican poll following the first presidential candidate debates and the new GOP poll is good news for Donald Trump and other outsiders, bad for news for the establishment candidates. The conventional wisdom immediately following the first Republican debates seemed to be that Donald Trump would […]

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, a liberal darling that many wish would have run for president and hope will be the vice-president on the 2016 Democratic ticket, has had one glaring flaw on her resume: she has previously opposed cannabis legalization. Disheartening to many cannabis law reform advocates, Warren opposed marijuana […]

Jim Webb, the former Senator from Virginia, may well be the Democratic 2016 candidate of choice for cannabis and drug war reformers. Webb’s candidacy is currently little know and seldom mentioned. This may change if Hilary Clinton’s campaign continues to melt down. Hillary Clinton’s marijuana policy is unclear and certainly […]

As his poll numbers continue to rise in the Republican primary, Donald Trump remains a focus of media attention. Building on his popularity among Republicans, the business magnate multiplies media appearances, giving journalists the opportunity to question him on his political positions on a variety of issues. Most of the […]

Marijuana Majority recently released the group’s first poll, conducted by Public Policy Polling, to question registered voters in Iowa and New Hampshire on whether the federal government should respect state marijuana laws. The poll found that strong majorities of Democrats, Republican and independents want Uncle Sam to stay out of states’ cannabis […]

As it has been written many times now, Bernie Sanders has become the mainstream candidate of many cannabis law reform advocates, especially following his comments about the Drug War ruining lives and the failure of the War on Drugs; his announcing a bill to abolish private prisons; and his openness […]

What do President Barack Obama, right-wing talk king Rush Limbaugh, pop star Miley Cyrus, and most of the 2016 presidential candidates all have in common? You know, beyond the fact that they travel with security and are rich beyond our wildest dreams? They all smoke or have smoked marijuana and […]

Back on May 3rd, I asked, “Will Bernie Sanders Become the Cannabis Candidate?” As regular readers of Marijuana Politics can certainly tell, we are big fans of the Vermont Senator and mainstream presidential candidate, praising his position on cannabis issues and the greater Drug War in post after post. Media […]

Bernie Sanders isn’t done talking about criminal justice reform — in fact, he’s merely getting started. The presidential contender continues to rise in the polls and sensible Drug War reforms will only increase his standing with the Democratic base. Appearing at a campaign rally in Nevada on Tuesday, the Vermont […]

Despite Bernie Sanders’ surge, particularly in the first primary state of New Hampshire, Hillary Clinton remains the Democratic frontrunner and the odds-on favorite to be the next President of the United States. Thus, it remains extremely important that cannabis law reformers lobby Clinton to support sensible federal marijuana policies that […]

Democratic National Committee Chairperson Debbie Wasserman Schultz discredits her party with her malevolent views and actions on cannabis.  The Florida congresswoman’s backwardness and obstruction on one of the 2016 election’s premier issues, cannabis prohibition, may cost the Democrats important votes. Many of us will not vote for the Democratic presidential […]

Bernie Sanders has certainly captured the hearts of progressives in the Democratic Party and many of those that have been fed up with politics as usual. Many in the cannabis law reform community have rallied around the Vermont Senator, prompting the establishment of the Facebook group Cannabis Advocates for Bernie since […]

As he made clear on Sunday, Bernie Sanders is serious about criminal justice reform. Speaking to an estimated 28,000 people at a campaign rally in Portland, Oregon, the Democratic candidate emphasized the need for change in terms of how crime is dealt with in the United States, making clear that […]

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders had an eventful little Saturday in Seattle to say the least. In a much-publicized encounter a couple of apparent Black Lives Matter protestors took over the stage at an afternoon anniversary celebration of Medicare and Social Security, decrying Seattle as a racist city and demanding a […]

Update: Bernie Sanders in Seattle: “Too Many Lives Have Been Destroyed by the War on Drugs.” Update 2.0: Commits to Criminal Justice Reform Before His Largest Crowd Ever; 28,000  Supporters in Portland, Oregon Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is taking his presidential bid to the West Coast, with a rally tonight in Seattle, tomorrow […]

Members of the media weren’t allowed into the $2,700 a head Hillary Clinton fundraiser in one of the most posh neighborhoods in pot-friendly Portland, Oregon, but that didn’t prevent some details of her talk from being reported upon as some attendees dished some details. Of course, most interesting to us here […]

While never making marijuana policy a major part of his policy platform in the past, it seemed likely that the progressive Sanders would be a supporter of sensible marijuana laws. Researching his stances, as much as forty years ago, and the fact that his home state of Vermont has been […]

The news media will certainly focus a lot on marijuana in the 2016 election. Unless you have been living under a rock, you know that marijuana is covered a lot in the media these days. Many mainstream media outlets, once strong opponents of legalization, have now embraced marijuana with spin-off publications […]

Update: Blog “What Does Donald Trump Think of Marijuana Legalization” includes latest news and polls.  The 2016 presidential race is heating up with progressive Bernie Sanders, the favored candidate of many cannabis law reform advocates, gaining ground on the Hillary Clinton Machine on the Democratic side as Sanders’ progressive positions become […]

The 2016 presidential election is a pivotal event for the future of the cannabis community and greater Drug War reforms. Just as it was critical to have the Obama Administration allow the implementation of legalization in Washington, Colorado, Oregon and Alaska, the next president will have a tremendous influence upon […]

Today, the United States Supreme Court announced its landmark Obergefell v. Hodges marriage equality decision legalizing same-sex marriage all across the country. The marriage equality and marijuana legalization movements share a lot of the same supporters National polling is very similar and the both causes have made dramatic advancements in […]

Supporting sensible federal marijuana policies used to one of the third-rail of American politics as politicians fell over each other to be the candidate toughest on crime. Today, a majority of voters support legalization and we are finally seeing a few major presidential candidates support federal marijuana law reform. Thus […]

Hillary Clinton will certainly be asked plenty of times about her marijuana policy as she travels the campaign trail. She will most likely be challenged from the left by Bernie Sanders on the Democratic side and potentially from the right by Rand Paul if he can escape the clown car […]

You would have to be living under a rock to not recognize that marijuana has gone mainstream in our society. Cannabis law reform measures are winning at the ballot box and more and more prominent people are supporting legalization. From entertainers to politicians, people are feeling comfortable coming out of […]

Marijuana legalization has been making inroads with Republican voters, especially millennials, but GOP support has lagged well behind Democrats and independents. Cannabis law reform advocates have long pointed out the conservative values demonstrated by marijuana legalization, including personal freedom, personal responsibility, entrepreneurship, smaller government and states’ rights. Marijuana law reform has […]

Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign is already a unique endeavor that will hopefully allow our nation to more honestly debate a whole host of issues, particularly on the Democratic side. Sanders will definitely push Hillary Clinton on many progressive issues and the Republicans likely will have to deal with the consequences […]