Wright State University Political Scientist Dr. Lee Hannah shares his expectations for the US midterm elections. Dr. Hannah believes the elections will be positive for the cannabis industry as four more states will potentially liberalize cannabis laws. He notes the increasing pressure for federal de-prohibition from a growing number of US states as well as the nation’s neighbours, Canada and Mexico, who will no longer have the same enforcement efforts at the federal level. Dr. Hannah points to republican hardliners like Jeff Sessions as possible stumbling blocks to federal legalization but suggests the support of high-profile party members like John Boehner and framing cannabis as a states’ rights issue might sway more moderate republicans. Dr. Hannah also indicates that President Trump could decriminalize cannabis by executive order if he decides to seize on the issue as a matter of national economic interest.
Transcript:
James West: Hey, welcome back. My next guest is Dr. Lee Hannah. He’s the assistant professor of Political Science at Wright State University. Dr. Hannah, welcome to our show.
Lee Hannah: Thanks so much for having me, James.
James West: So Lee, it’s great to be talking to you on this day – this is the day of the midterm elections. What is happening in the United States? I mean, there’s an expectation that the Senate will flip, but the House will not?
Lee Hannah: Well, the expectation is that the House will likely flip to Democratic control, and the Republicans, who have a two-seat majority in the Senate, are likely to hold if not gain a seat.
James West: Okay. So then, how is that expected to impact the path towards legalization of cannabis, which is one of the bigger hot button issues emerging now?
Lee Hannah: Sure, yes. So we have the potential of four more states liberalizing their cannabis laws, either with medical marijuana or with recreational marijuana. Three of those are polling pretty strongly, and along with that, you have this kind of increasing pressure. You know, Mexico just had a court ruling that came down on the 1st that effectively legalizes some form of recreational there; of course, Canada has passed their own laws. And so now we’re living in a country with the majority of our states with some type of liberal or some type of legal access to marijuana, more medically than recreationally, but that’s picking up as well. And at the same time, you have pressure from both of our neighbours now, to where they’re not going to have kind of the same, I guess, enforcement efforts that we still do, at least at the Federal level, here.
James West: So then at the Federal level, it seems that the President is – well, its unclear as to what his real sentiment is towards legalization, but certainly some people around him are hardliners against legalizations. Of course, I’m referring to Jeff Sessions. What kind o