Formerly Anti-Legalization Massachusetts Lawmakers Vie For Marijuana Vote In Senate Primary Debate

Two members of Congress who formerly opposed marijuana legalization each made the case that they are now more supportive of reform than the other during a Massachusetts Democratic U.S. Senate primary debate on Monday. Incumbent Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-MA) were pressed on what led them to change their positions on cannabis policy, and both defended their records and attempted to make the case that they were quicker out of the gate to embrace ending prohibition than their competitor was. “I have supported legalization since it passed in Massachusetts,” Markey said, adding that “I voted to support legalization when it was on the ballot.” (Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) similarly stated, years after the fact, that she voted in favor of the 2016 legalization measure without having publicly endorsed it at the time.) “I made it public after it passed, but it was something that I came out publicly in favor of before Congressman Kennedy did,” he said. “I believe that it is something that also I might add should be done in a way in which racial minorities for the first time should be able to fully participate in the business opportunities that marijuana is going to present in our state, and that we have to create a banking system that ensures that it’s not a cash business, but something that goes through a traditional banking system.” Black and Brown communities have been unfairly criminalized by the War on Drugs. When we legalize cannabis at…

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Source : MJ moment
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