Here Are America's Best and Worst Governors on Weed

Its no secret that the idea of legal cannabis is popular in America. Even Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is now in favor of decriminalizing the green stuffa step short of outright legalizationwhile several progressive Democrats who will presumably run for president in 2020 are staking out more aggressive pro-weed positions. Poll after poll shows that the public at large wants legal pot, yet the countrys leaders are dragging their feet: VICEs recent survey of senators' positions on weed showed that very few of them thought (or were willing to declare) that weed should be legal, full stop.

But federal policy on legal pot, for now at least, is not where the action really is. Its on the state level that battles are being fought (and very often won) by legalization advocates, meaning the countrys governors have a huge amount of power. A supportive state-level chief exec, like New Jerseys Phil Murphy, can push to expand existing marijuana programs. An anti-weed governor, on the other hand, can block the will of his states own voters, which is exactly what Maines Paul LePage has been doing. Last year, he vetoed a bill to establish a recreational marijuana market, even though his state's voters had said in 2016 they wanted to create one, and now he's threatening to veto another recreational marijuana bill passed by lawmakers. (The legislature may be able to override his veto this time.)

In the new gubernatorial report card released Tuesday by the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), LePage got a D- while Murphy was one of two governors to score an A. The report card shows some clear trends: Democrats tend to be more pot-friendly than Republicans, only two governors support the legalization of weed for recreational as well as medicinal purposes, and very broadly, governors are much more anti-cannabis than their constituents.

In advance of the reports release, I spoke to NORML Executive Director Erik Altieri about whether Republicans were, in their own way, becoming more pro-weedand how activists could push governors into being on the right side of history.

VICE: Politicians have obviously long been way behind the public when it comes to support for marijuana. Is that trend shifting at all?
Erik Altieri: It is beginning to shift. Politicians are traditionally a lagging indicator of where public opinion is; theyre very cautious by nature and often have to be pulled along kicking and screaming to where the will of the populace is. But you do see evolution happen, particularly when states voters speak out on an issue or they hear enough from their constituents in support of it. I think a good example of that is Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper. Beginning and through the campaign process when Colorado legalized marijuana, he was very skeptical and negative on the issue. He didnt, in particular, do a very good job in defending Colorados legalization laws in the media when it was being implemented. But several years later, after seeing that not only was it working but public support for legalization among Colorado voters had increased, hes done a very good job, particularly in the past year, of being a vocal defender and an articulate spokesman for why regulation is far better than prohibition.

Its going to take a while, especially in the conservative states where theyre not feeling as much pressure to move forwardgovernors often dont begin to shift until theres political necessity. But that progress is happening.

If youre trying to work to loosen marijuana laws in your state, is it easier to replace an anti-weed governor or pass weed ordinances and hope the governor comes around?
I think that its still very much a case-by-case basis. New Jersey is a good example of the flaws of approving pro-reform legislation under a prohibitionist governor. Under Chris Christie, a medical marijuana bill was signed into law and put into effect. And while on paper things began to change, he did everything in his authority to stymie that growth, to make it as limited and as dysfunctional as he possibly could, and then refused to fix any of the problems or expand the program in any meaningful way. In reaction to that, Phil Murphy, the current governor, campaigned very heavily on marijuana legalization, made it a central point of his campaignhe certainly got a not-insignificant amount of votes for taking that positionand within the first hundred days of being in office, he expanded the medical program greatly, and hes advocating for the state legislature to move this year on full legalization.

So it depends on the situation youre in. I think Hickenlooper was an opponent but a cautious one, and so his opposition always seemed a bit soft to me. In that kind of situation, you can work with them and try to convince them to come over to your side. If youre facing someone like a Chris Christie, you can show him all the facts and figures you wanthes entrenched in his position and hes going to fight you tooth and nail.

Why are Republicans (still) so much worse on weed than Democrats?
It is true, by and large, Democrats are better on this issue than Republicans. I think ...