MJBiz - September/October 2024 - 8

FROM THE EDITOR Omar Sacirbey
Cannabis Clout and Political Power
Marijuana hasn't just joined the mainstream; it also draws
major funding and voters
I
n the spring of 1991, I saw
a television news segment
about a Kentucky lawyer,
Gatewood Galbraith, who was
running for governor.
Galbraith was tall and slim,
wore a dark suit and spoke with
a Kentucky drawl. Speaking
outdoors in rural Kentucky, he
called for marijuana legalization,
drawing cheers from the crowd,
many of them farmers who
would benefit from the ability to
grow new crops.
At the time, I could hardly
believe it: a political candidate
who made marijuana legalization
a centerpiece of his platform. I
wanted to go to Kentucky that
instant to campaign for Galbraith.
Alas, I never went to Kentucky,
and Galbraith got 5% of the vote,
finishing fourth among four candidates
in the Democratic Party
primary that year. Galbraith ran
several more times for governor,
U.S. Representative and other
public offices-always campaigning
on marijuana legalization and
always with similar results.
New Marijuana Landscape
Galbraith died in 2012 but would
surely be pleased about the
progress marijuana has made.
While that 1991 news segment
about Galbraith treated him like
a novelty, marijuana legalization
is anything but novel now. Both
as a political issue and as an
industry, marijuana has become
a powerful factor in American
politics and civic life.
Just consider the race for
the White House between Vice
President Kamala Harris and
former President Donald Trump.
As MJBizMagazine reporter Chris
Roberts notes in his story about
the battle for the presidency and
its implications for marijuana,
this is the first election where
neither candidate is a threat to
MJ reform.
If you have doubts about
marijuana's growing political
power, look at Florida. There, the
recreational-legalization ballot
measure known as Amendment 3
has been the most-funded measure
this year of any kind, not just
marijuana, according to campaign
watchdog group Open Secrets.
Led by $61 million in campaign
contributions from Tallahassee,
Florida-based marijuana
multistate operator Trulieve
Cannabis Corp., the Amendment 3
campaign had a fundraising
advantage of almost 5-to-1 as this
issue went into print.
MJBizMagazine data reporter
Andrew Long affirms the
financial clout of cannabis with
a data-driven story about the
industry's contributions in this
election cycle.
Marijuana's message? We mean
business. Take us seriously.
Joining the Mainstream
This election is also an indicator of
how much marijuana has become
entwined with other aspects of
mainstream American life.
Proposed referendums in
Arizona and Colorado would
have challenged whether
marijuana patients could obtain
permits to carry firearms. While
10 September-October 2024 | MJBizMagazine
those initiatives did not make
the ballot, an Oregon ballot
measure lets voters consider
organized labor's place in an
industry seeking acceptance
and normalization through
standardization.
Marijuana political activism
will continue to evolve as the
needs of marijuana patients,
consumers and businesses
change. Consider the Marijuana
Policy Project (MPP), founded in
1995, when legalization was still
widely viewed as a novelty issue.
But MPP believed its mission
wasn't novel. The group is as
responsible as any for where
marijuana is today. As noted in
our Industry Players department,
MPP is also changing, adding
to its board experts in psychedelics-a
sector still widely seen
as a novelty by the public.
Today, it's funny to think
that marijuana legalization-an
issue that can drive both voter
turnout and substantial campaign
finance dollars-was once
regarded as novel.
In the following pages, we
give the upcoming election the
treatment it deserves, with serious
and comprehensive explorations
of the most important
races, and what they will mean
for our readers.
I believe Gatewood Galbraith
would approve.
Omar Sacirbey is the
editor of MJBizMagazine.
Reach him at omar.
sacirbey@mjbizdaily.com.
MJBiz - September/October 2024

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