April 1, 2022

The House Passed It, Americans Want It: Why Is Legal Weed Still a Long Shot?

Don’t get your hopes up.

Richard B. Levine/Levine Roberts/Zuma

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Most Americans think it’s time to legalize weed. A whopping 91 percent of our Republic says that marijuana should be allowed for medical use, according to the Pew Research Center, and nearly two thirds support legalizing it recreationally, as well. Recreational weed is already legal in 18 states, and decriminalized in 13 more. It seems like federal legalization is only a matter of time.

But Congress isn’t always the best conduit for making public opinion into federal law—it just happens to be the only one we have. So, when the House approved a bill to decriminalize marijuana today, the vote fell mostly along party lines and came with the knowledge that there’s not too much hope for full legalization.

Sure, there were a few defectors on either side. Two Democrats—Reps. Henry Cuellar (Texas) and Chris Pappas (N.H.)—voted against the bill. Three Republicans voted for it: Reps. Matt Gaetz (Fla.), Brian Mast (Fla.) and Tom McClintock (Calif.). And advocates for drug reform now face a Senate that’s at least somewhat sympathetic, with Majority Leader Chuck Schumer planning to introduce his own legislation. But Democrats are unlikely to win many Republican votes with their current proposal, which includes social equity programs to redress the harm done to communities of color by the war on drugs. We’ve been here before. The House voted to legalize weed in 2020, too.

Plus, it’s not yet clear where President Biden stands. Biden has historically supported the war on drugs, and last year, his administration fired five staffers who admitted to past cannabis use.

I would argue there’s another under-discussed problem here, too: our gerontocracy. In addition to Republicans’ general tough-on-crime opposition to weed, this is another major factor plaguing the prospect of legal pot. The Pew study notes that just 32 percent of Americans aged 75 and older support legalizing recreational and medical weed—far lower than any other age group. That could be a problem in Congress’ upper chamber, which has 11 senators over the age of 75. 

So, if you live in a non-legal state, don’t get your hopes up. The overwhelming support of the public—and the prospect of an easy legislative accomplishment to tout in the midterms—just isn’t enough to get lawmakers on board.

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From the desk of Mother Jones CEO, Monika Bauerlein...

Newsrooms can be funded in many ways. One of the most controversial (and volatile) ways is by a for-profit corporation or a billionaire owner. We see it across the headlines on a weekly basis: the claw backs in public media, the gutting of The Washington Post, the bending over backwards to appeal to Trump and his allies.

But not here.

When Mother Jones first started publishing 50 years ago, our founders made a critical decision: to be a reader-supported nonprofit. They knew that no corporate owner would be interested in a muckraking newsroom; they also knew that no muckraking newsroom would be interested in following the agenda of a corporate owner.

And so, we’ve been reader-funded for half a century. We rely on contributions from our readers—readers like you—whether it’s $50, or $15 a month, or whatever fits your budget. People give what they can, and every donation makes a difference for our newsroom, which has grown tremendously—in size and reach and renown—since its inception in 1976.

You may be wondering: What does it take to publish an investigation? And what does my donation actually fund? The answers are one and the same: It takes people, resources, and time. And that’s what your donation funds directly.

Every donation Mother Jones receives from readers fortifies our newsroom, whether we’re covering underreported scandals out of Washington, DC, or the most important news of the day. And right now, each donation will be doubled because of our $50,000 match. So when you make a donation—$5, $50, any amount—it’ll go twice as far.

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