Despite presidential hopeful Joe Biden potentially being against marijuana legislation, one Democratic senator believes the plant will be legalized next year.
U.S. senator Ed Markey (D-MA) says that if his party reclaims the Senate and White House in November, lawmakers will “move very quickly” to legalize marijuana. This is also regardless of where presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden stands on the issue.
In a podcast interview this past weekend, Markey said Democrats are positioned to advance marijuana reform as soon as they have a majority in both chambers of Congress.
Even if Biden wins the election and is opposed to adult-use legalization, the senator said supporters will have the votes to pass it in any case.
“From my perspective, this is another issue that’s just right there on the ballot in November,” Markey told The Young Jurks podcast.
“We’ll move very quickly in January to change these laws to make sure that there are national protections which are put in place. But unfortunately, Trump controls the discretionary use of these personnel, and they’re kind of committed to keeping this crazy non scientifically based analysis of marijuana front-and-center.”
“We’ll have the majority of the votes in the United States Senate,” Markey said on the podcast. “And I know [Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY)] has moved in that direction, he’ll be the majority leader in January. I think we’ll have votes to just move it, and the science has moved there.”
