Marijuana coverage has reared its head in yet one more gubernatorial race this election cycle, with the Republican South Carolina incumbent trying to dissuade voters from electing his Democratic opponent as a result of he helps marijuana legalization.
And Joe Cunningham, a former Democratic congressman, is welcoming the eye to his in style, and more and more bipartisan, stance of hashish reform.
Gov. Henry McMaster’s (R) marketing campaign launched an advert that assaults the Democratic nominee as a “frat boy,” taking part in a clip of him cracking open a can on beer on the U.S. Home flooring in late 2020 as a gesture calling for bipartisanship.
(Shortly after this story was first printed, the McMaster marketing campaign made the YouTube video of their advert non-public, after which later reposted it. In case the advert is taken down once more, an archived model can nonetheless be seen here.)
The narrator then says “Joe loves weed and voted towards the police” as a smokey filter is added to a video of him, earlier than suggesting that he misplaced his seat for voting consistent with Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D) on a majority of laws.
For what it’s value, Cunningham was unseated in his congressional reelection race by now-Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), who strongly helps hashish legalization and launched a invoice to finish prohibition final 12 months.
Cunningham responded to the governor’s advert by thanking him for “pushing my extremely in style plan to legalize marijuana in his new TV advert.”
I’d wish to thank @henrymcmaster for pushing my extremely in style plan to legalize marijuana in his new TV advert. Because the governor clearly has no new concepts of his personal to share, it is good he determined to spend a few of his cash on mine. Please RT and share!https://t.co/624vv3S3S7
— Joe Cunningham (@JoeCunninghamSC) August 30, 2022
“Because the governor clearly has no new concepts of his personal to share, it’s good he determined to spend a few of his cash on mine,” he mentioned, including that his opponent’s marketing campaign mischaracterized his place on regulation enforcement and questioning McMaster’s personal school fraternity affiliations.
Additionally, I used to be by no means in a fraternity and I doubt Governor McMaster desires to speak about his fraternity days. I wouldn’t wish to be invited to his type of frat occasion. pic.twitter.com/vlvZ8C5Fwm
— Joe Cunningham (@JoeCunninghamSC) August 30, 2022
A press release from the Cunningham marketing campaign mentioned that “Henry McMaster is so out of contact with the folks of South Carolina that he truly thinks highlighting Joe’s help for marijuana legalization in an advert is a nasty factor.”
“McMaster desires to manage your life, in all probability as a result of he can’t appear to manage the rest in South Carolina,” it mentioned.
The McMaster advert isn’t the primary time that Cunningham has confronted GOP criticism over his advocacy for marijuana reform.
After the gubernatorial candidate got here out with a plan to legalize hashish for medical and leisure functions, South Carolina Republican Occasion Chairman Drew McKissick voiced opposition and mentioned the Democratic candidate desires to “play with fireplace” by embracing the coverage change.
However notably, a GOP South Carolina lawmaker got here to Cunningham’s protection final 12 months.
.@henrymcmaster put an image of me with @mixmastermike from the @beastieboys and @Chali2na from @jurassic5 in his assault advert and truly thought I’d be mad. By far the nicest factor McMaster has ever carried out for me. pic.twitter.com/x1nO9otC7n
— Joe Cunningham (@JoeCunninghamSC) August 30, 2022
Rep. Tom Davis (R) mentioned on the time that his personal occasion’s stance, significantly because it considerations medical hashish, is “an intellectually lazy place that doesn’t even attempt to current medical info as they presently exist.”
Davis sponsored a medical marijuana legalization invoice that cleared the state Senate alongside largely bipartisan strains earlier this 12 months, nevertheless it was killed within the Home following a procedural problem. He later tried one other avenue for the reform proposal, however that equally failed this session.
South Carolina voters help legalizing medical hashish by a ratio of 5 to at least one, in line with a ballot launched in February.
I’ve been criss-crossing the state for over a 12 months speaking to voters about my plan to legalize marijuana, and McMaster simply…put it on statewide TV for us. https://t.co/qVN43NA6n3
— Joe Cunningham (@JoeCunninghamSC) August 30, 2022
McMaster, for his half, has persistently opposed adult-use marijuana legalization, calling it “a nasty concept” that isn’t “wholesome” in 2017. And whereas the overwhelming majority of his occasion is in consensus on permitting sufferers to entry medical hashish, the governor has been non-committal about previous proposals, declining to endorse Davis’s invoice earlier this 12 months, for instance.
He mentioned his help or opposition would “rely upon numerous issues” that he’d have to evaluate if the laws arrived on his desk.
Final week, Cunningham talked about how voters “are prepared for a brand new technology of management. They’re prepared for values that match their very own, so we’re enthusiastic about that.”
“We’re not going to boost taxes, however we’re going to discover new sources of income. We’re going to legalize marijuana, legalize sports activities betting and we’re going to take that income and pay our academics extra,” he said.
https://t.co/lAhjdGQVGT pic.twitter.com/7XlWQpn9pA
— Joe Cunningham (@JoeCunninghamSC) August 30, 2022
With majority help for legalization throughout occasion strains, some have been left scratching their heads this election cycle as sure candidates have taken hardline stances opposing reform regardless of the recognition of the difficulty.
That political disconnect has been particularly obvious in Pennsylvania, the place the race for governor and a key U.S. Senate seat has revealed severe ideological fissures on drug coverage.
The 2 main occasion candidates vying to be Pennsylvania’s subsequent governor are diametrically opposed on the difficulty of marijuana reform—with one backing legalization and the opposite insisting that it’s a “silly concept” that has turned different states into “rat holes.”
As lawmakers within the state put together for an additional session when legalization will inevitably be proposed but once more, voters will likely be making a key determination on whether or not they usher in an administration led by somebody who’s hostile to reform with Republican state Sen. Doug Mastriano or embraces hashish coverage reform with the Democratic nominee, Legal professional Normal Josh Shapiro.
Voters in that state might need seen drug coverage reform take the highlight within the social media spectacle that’s change into the U.S. Senate race between Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D) and TV well being character Dr. Oz.
Ounceshas lobbed assaults at Fetterman over his lengthy file of supporting marijuana reform, and the Republican Nationwide Committee (RNC) has equally seized on the difficulty, misleadingly casting the state official as a radical supporter of insurance policies like legalizing heroin, for instance.
All of that is although, in 2020, Ounceshimself known as marijuana “one of the crucial underused instruments in America” and mentioned that the nation ought to “utterly change our coverage on marijuana.”