The race to succeed two-term Gov. John Hickenlooper is the top item In the Centennial State\u2019s midterm primary today. Colorado has an open primary pursuant to a 2016 voter initiative \u2014which means anyone is free to vote, regardless of party affiliation. And leading the Democratic field by a healthy 13 points is Jared Polis.<\/p>\n
The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Law\u2019s political action committee,\u00a0NORML PAC<\/a>,\u00a0has endorsed Polis, as Denver\u2019s alternative news site\u00a0Westword<\/a>\u00a0reports. Even the\u00a0New York Times<\/a>\u00a0notes that Polis has won the support of \u201cColorado\u2019s New Single-Issue Voters: The Cannabis Community.\u201d<\/p>\n Polis has placed his Denver campaign headquarters on South Broadway, right before the street\u2019s \u201cGreen Mile\u201d of cannabis dispensaries,\u00a0Westword<\/a>\u00a0also notes. Earlier this month, that\u2019s where he announced he wanted to give a \u201cColorado welcome\u201d to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who just flew into town to speak at the\u00a0Western Conservative Summit<\/a>. The\u00a0Denver Post<\/a>\u00a0reported that Polis headlined at the rally against the conservative confab on June 8 \u2014 another case of the usual party positions on \u201cstates\u2019 rights\u201d being\u00a0ironically reversed where cannabis is concerned.<\/p>\n Westword<\/a>\u00a0quotes Polis promising that if elected, he\u2019ll fight back against Trump, Sessions<\/a> and \u201canyone else who seeks to intervene in state law.\u201d<\/p>\n In truth, Polis is by no means a single-issue candidate, even if he\u2019s refreshingly forthright on cannabis. His\u00a0campaign<\/a>\u00a0is also advocating universal Medicare, a statewide transition to 100 percent renewable energy by 2040, and free pre-K and kindergarten for all. He\u2019s been a ground-breaker in several ways. He was the first openly gay parent in Congress and supported legal cannabis and marriage equality well before it was cool.<\/p>\n And Polis boasts: \u201cIt\u2019s a people-powered campaign. Other candidates have billionaire friends funding them, corporate friends funding them. In my case, if I have the opportunity to serve as governor, I won\u2019t owe it to anyone except the voters.\u201d<\/p>\n Actually, he\u2019ll owe it in part to his own personal wealth. While still a young man, the Boulder native and Princeton graduate cashed in on the dot-com boom, turning his family\u2019s greeting card business,\u00a0Blue Mountain Arts<\/a>, into a tremendously successful e-card retailer. He was also the founder of English-language schools for immigrants in Colorado, before first being elected to Congress in 2008, according to a profile on\u00a0Colorado Public Radio<\/a>.<\/p>\n In Washington, he became a founder of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus. In 2013, he\u00a0introduced legislation<\/a>\u00a0that would effectively end the federal prohibition on cannabis, and supported\u00a0similar efforts<\/a>\u00a0by other lawmakers. In 2011, he signed an\u00a0open letter<\/a>\u00a0to President Obama protesting continued federal raids on medical marijuana dispensaries, and\u00a0another such letter<\/a>\u00a0in 2014 calling on Obama to use his presidential authority to re-schedule cannabis.<\/p>\n On the gubernatorial trail, Polis has been calling out incumbent Hickenlooper over his veto of three pieces of cannabis legislation over the past weeks: one that would have extended medical marijuana access to patients with autism spectrum disorders, one that would have allowed for increased investment in the state\u2019s cannabis industry and one to allow consumers to sample cannabis products in \u201ctasting rooms\u201d at licensed dispensaries.<\/p>\n \u201cIf I have the opportunity to be governor of Colorado, I would sign this bill increasing access for medical marijuana to those on the autism spectrum, enabling investments in legal cannabis businesses that help reduce costs for consumers and create jobs,\u201d Polis told\u00a0Marijuana Moment<\/a>\u00a0website in a phone interview.<\/p>\n In the primary, Polis faces three Democratic contenders \u2014 former state Treasurer Cary Kennedy, incumbent Lt. Gov. Donna Lynne, and former state senator (and Obama campaign adviser) Mike Johnston. All are supportive of legal cannabis, but less outspoken on the issue than Polis.<\/p>\n As\u00a0\u00a0The Coloradoan<\/a>\u00a0reports, with Polis stepping down from Congress to run for governor, there will also be a Democratic primary for his congressional seat in Larimer County, where Fort Collins is located. Both of the candidates for that seat \u2014 Joe Neguse and Mark Williams \u2014 share Polis\u2019 progressive politics.<\/p>\n Contending for governor on the Republican side are current state Treasurer Walker Stapleton, former U.S.\u00a0Small Business Administration<\/a>\u00a0chief for Colorado Greg Lopez, former investment banker Doug Robinson, and former telecom CEO Victor Mitchell. Stapleton wants to rein in the state\u2019s legal marijuana program, although\u00a0he says<\/a>, \u201cI don\u2019t think a repeal is a realistic option.\u201d Among the Republican contenders, Lopez is\u00a0probably the most liberal<\/a>\u00a0where cannabis is concerned. Robinson, who is Mitt Romney\u2019s nephew, has been an\u00a0active crusader<\/a>\u00a0against retail cannabis sales. Mitchell is\u00a0also campaigning<\/a>\u00a0on restricting (although not repealing) legal cannabis.<\/p>\n TELL US<\/strong>,\u00a0does a politician\u2019s stance on cannabis affect your vote?<\/p>\n The post Colorado Cannabis Community Energized by Jared Polis Gubernatorial Bid<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The race to succeed two-term Gov. John Hickenlooper is the top item In the Centennial State\u2019s midterm primary today. Colorado has an open primary pursuant to a 2016 voter initiative \u2014which means anyone is free to vote, regardless of party affiliation. And leading the Democratic field by a healthy 13Continue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[50,21,1348,4740,4741,1136,4742,139,81,362],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27298"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/190"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27298"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27298\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27299,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27298\/revisions\/27299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: Colorado Cannabis Community Energized by Jared Polis Gubernatorial Bid<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"