It appears that if a vote for the next U.S. President were to occur right now, the USA’s cannabis industry would likely elect Hillary Clinton.
According to a survey carried out by Marijuana Business Daily late last month of more than 700 industry executives and professionals, 43% would choose Hillary Clinton and just 26% Donald Trump. 10% of those surveyed were still undecided.
When it came to cannabis industry investors, Hilary Clinton won out again with 45.9% vs. 37.8% choosing Donald Trump.
While guarded in her comments, Hillary Clinton has publicly expressed a level of support for medical marijuana. In January this year, we reported Ms. Clinton backs moving marijuana from Schedule One to Schedule Two, which would enable increased access to medical researchers.
In early July, the Democratic Party formally called for a “reasoned pathway to future legalization” of marijuana and for it to be downgraded in the Controlled Substances Act
As for The Donald, the Marijuana Policy Project states Mr. Trump supports legal access to medical cannabis. But as with quite a few of Mr. Trump’s comments, it’s hard to tell what would be policy and what are thought bubbles.
What about the other presidential candidates?
Jill Stein, who is expected to be the presidential nominee for the Green Party, strongly supports medical cannabis. She has previously stated that as President, one of her first actions would be to order DEA and the Justice Department to cease prosecuting medical marijuana clinics and other marijuana-related businesses that are operating legitimately under state laws.
The Libertarian Party’s presidential nominee, New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson, is another medical marijuana supporter. He wishes to legalize it at the federal level, remove it from federal drug schedules and permit states to regulate marijuana for medical and adult use.
Whoever ends up as President, it is appearing as though the next four years will see an accelerated evolution of the US industry and a significant change in federal attitudes towards medicinal cannabis.
With more than half of US states now having legalized medical marijuana to varying degrees, the genie is well and truly out of the bottle and federal attempts to cram it back in would likely be futile.
