Legalization Takes the Stage in Major Congressional Race

Originally published at blog.NORML.org

While most political observers are keeping their eyes on the 2018 midterm elections, there are several important special elections to fill seats vacated by members of Congress who were recently appointed to positions in the Trump Administration. One of the more prominent upcoming races will decide who represents the Montana At-Large Congressional District, a position previously filled by the newly minted Interior Secretary Robert Zinke (R).

The two major party candidates, Montana folk musician Rob Quist (D) and conservative multimillionaire tech entrepreneur Greg Gianforte (R), will be facing off in a special election set to be held on May 25th. This election has been drawing nationwide attention and is expected to be highly contested. Over the weekend, the pair sounded off on a variety of topics in a debate aired by MTN News. Notably, the candidates were forced to go on record with their position on marijuana law reform.

Do you support the legalization of marijuana?

Rob Quist (D): 

“I went into a dispensary because I wanted to ask the proprietor…I said you know who uses this? The people that come in here are peoples whose bodies are burned out by pharmaceutical drugs and this is the only relief they can get. Quite frankly I think that the war on drugs has been an abject failure, I think theres a pipeline of money going into these orgs that can be better spent not incarcerating people, with our whole prison for profit.. There are people in jail that don’t belong in jail because of this. I think the money can be better spent for rehabilitation and treatment. I think it’s important, the majority of Americans want to see that this is legalized.”

Greg Gianforte (R): 

“One of the things that really came home to me as I travelled around the state was the addiction problems we have to meth, to opiates…The result is over 3,500 kids in foster care here in the state. I believe that marijuana has medicinal benefits and we should support that, but making it available of recreational use would just add to the addiction problems and cause more problems here and I oppose it.”

The candidate for the Libertarian Party, Mark Wicks, also stated he supported the legalization of marijuana.

If you live in Montana, no matter who you support, be sure to participate in our democracy and cast your ballot in this special election. You can check your voter registration and find out all other information necessary to participate from the Montana Secretary of State HERE.