Red, White, and Green – Why COVID-19 was the Best Thing to Ever Happen to the Marijuana Legalization Movement

The most important thing COVID-19 did for marijuana legalization was replace the current conservative, Republican president with a Democrat.  Not that Joe Biden is weed’s best friend, but if Trump won re-election there would be close to 0% chance of Federal marijuana policy change until 2024 at the earliest. This is the same president Trump who picked anti-pot Attorney General Jeff Sessions and thinks marijuana makes people dumb.  There is a strong case to be made that if COVID-19 doesn’t hit, Trump is an easy re-election winner in 2020.  The stock market was soaring to 30,000 or move under his watch and unemployment was hovering under 2% in America.  Love him or hate him, people vote with their pocketbook and ask themselves, “Am I better off or worse off than I was 4 years ago?”.  People love to see their IRA and pension fund balances going up, and with the Dow at 30,000 and unemployment at under 2%, does the idea of a “tax and spend Democrat” sound like a good choice?  If COVID-19 doesn’t hit, the odds at Trump getting re-elected are pretty good, and that would not have been good for cannabis.