These are exciting times for those of us working to end cannabis prohibition in America.
Today, we launch the initial rollout of NORML’s Smoke the Vote for the 2022 midterm elections! Every election cycle, we provide a suite of tools to make it easier for legalization supporters like you to learn about the candidates and initiatives on their ballot. You can visit Smoke the Vote, enter your address information, and it will show you all the candidates on your ballot this November and inform you of their public positions on marijuana policy. More information will be added to the database in the coming weeks, so if you don’t see information on your scorecard for a specific race, please know that it will be added soon. You can also help us build out information on local races by sending pertinent candidate information to policy@norml.org.
Additionally, we have re-launched NORML Election Central, which provides you with information on the numerous state and local legalization measures taking place across the country. We’ve also partnered once again with Rock the Vote to give you easy ways to check your voter registration and, if you still need to register, to provide you the info specific to your state so you can easily do so.
While voting to support candidates that are seeking to end cannabis prohibition is always important, showing up at your polling place this year is even more critical with so many state and local ballot measures relating to marijuana being decided upon. Just last week, we received the exciting news that North Dakota will join the list of states that will be voting on statewide legalization this November, and we expect there still might be a couple more that will join the ranks soon.
Beyond the upcoming elections themselves, there is still a lot going on in the world of marijuana law reform. In the past week, two new bills have been introduced in Congress that are worth supporting. One would facilitate the expungement of federal marijuana convictions, and the other would facilitate cannabis research trials and drug development. On top of those two new bills, there remains a great chance we can pass other federal legislation this year, such as the SAFE Banking Act. You can easily contact your members of Congress by visiting NORML’s Take Action Center.
With voters in so many states deciding upon adult-use legalization ballot reforms this November, NORML is aiming to redouble our efforts to inform, educate, and register voters. If we end up victorious in this election, it will be a massive tectonic shift in our nation’s cannabis politics. We also need to ensure that we elect more reformers to Congress this fall and that we vote out those who continue to halt our momentum moving at the federal level.
The next few months are going to be some of the most pivotal we have ever seen for our movement to end prohibition. If we are going to succeed, however, we really are going to need your help. So if you can, and only if you can, consider making a contribution today.
Let’s go win together.
NORML
