Politics
Police Would Rather Deal With People High On Marijuana Than Drunk On Alcohol, Iowa Governor Candidate Says
The Democratic Party’s nominee for Iowa governor is continuing to call for marijuana legalization, saying in a debate with his GOP opponent that the reform would make law enforcement’s job easier while also raising revenue to help fund education.
“If we tax cannabis the way we tax alcohol and treat it the way we treat alcohol, that would be a positive move for the state’s budget,” Rob Sand said during Wednesday’s debate.
“I also think it would be a positive move for law enforcement—taking some of the burden off of their backs,” the Democratic gubernatorial candidate said. “Every time I talk to police officers, they’d rather deal with someone who was using cannabis than someone who was drunk.”
“And look, these are both dangerous drugs,” Sand said. “The bottom line is, we don’t want to be throwing people in prison just for using them.”
Later in the debate, Sand was asked how he would pay for a proposed 5 percent increase in supplemental state aid to schools in his first year in office.
He replied that part of the solution is to legalize marijuana.
“If we legalize cannabis and treated like alcohol, the first year we’re probably seeing $50 million,” Sand said. “But in years after that it will be over $100 million.”
Republican gubernatorial nominee Zach Lahn did not address marijuana during the debate. He reportedly opposes legalizing cannabis but doesn’t appear to have spoken extensively about the issue.
The Democratic candidate, meanwhile, has repeatedly highlighted his support for legalizing marijuana on the campaign trail.
Sand said last month that legalizing marijuana is a “no-brainer” move to help forestall a “fiscal time bomb” in Iowa that could otherwise lead to cuts in funding for education and public safety in the state.
“I think we should treat it the way we treat alcohol. That seems like a no-brainer to me, right?” the Democratic gubernatorial nominee, who is currently the state auditor, said at a town hall event.
“Alcohol is a dangerous drug. You shouldn’t abuse it. Also, we’re not going to throw you in prison for having a beer,” Sand said. “Why is it any different for marijuana? It is a dangerous drug. You shouldn’t abuse it. We shouldn’t be throwing people in prison just for using it.”
Sand also spoke about his support for legalizing marijuana at an earlier event in August, saying that he thinks cannabis should be legalized and treated like alcohol, even if he thinks it’s “dangerous.”
“Marijuana is a dangerous drug,” he said at the time. “You shouldn’t abuse it, but we also shouldn’t throw people in prison just for using it. We should treat it the way we treat alcohol. Alcohol is a dangerous drug. You shouldn’t abuse it, but we don’t throw you in prison just for having a beer when you get home.”
The Democratic gubernatorial candidate said that Iowa is “spending perfectly good tax dollars to lock people up” for marijuana while people who want to use it are driving across the border to purchase it in other states.
“They’re spending their money in Illinois, or they’re spending it in Missouri. And then they’re driving back without their money,” Sand said. “The money stays there, and the tax dollars stay there.”
Sand also recently praised President Donald Trump’s administration for taking steps to federally reschedule cannabis.
“I’m someone who has always been willing to call the good ‘good,'” he said. “I was really glad to see the Trump administration move towards making marijuana more accessible for medical purposes. I’m a believer that it should be treated the way we treat alcohol. And so when they did it, I said, ‘Good for them.'”
Josh Turek, the Democratic nominee in a U.S. Senate race in Iowa, said last month that cannabis’s longtime restrictive Schedule I status is “ridiculous.” Marijuana “should be legalized and regulated, and let’s tax it,” he said.
Meanwhile, Iowa regulators are circulating proposed rules changes to remove the residency requirement for patients in the state’s medical cannabis program while also ensuring that military veterans qualify for reduced registration fees.
The residency-focused part of the regulatory change from the state Department of Health and Human Services is meant to comply with provisions of a bill that Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) signed into law in June.
In addition to allowing out-of-state residents to register in the medical cannabis program if they have a certification from an Iowa healthcare provider legislation, that legislation also doubles the number of medical cannabis dispensaries that are allowed to operate in the state.
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The Iowa Medical Cannabidiol Board, which oversees the state’s medical marijuana program, recommended in a 2023 report that the state allow more licenses “in an effort to provide Iowans with greater geographical access to medical cannabis products.”
Under the program, patients with certain conditions can obtain cannabis products containing no more than at 4.5 grams of THC every 90 days. Flower and smoking are not allowed. Healthcare practitioners can allow greater amounts of THC for patients who are terminally ill or who have experience with the program and for whom the provider believes 4.5 grams is not enough.
Separately this session, Iowa lawmakers considered a bill to create a state-regulated therapeutic psilocybin program for patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Last year, the governor vetoed earlier legislation that would have allowed doctors in the state to immediately prescribe a synthetic form of psilocybin in the event of federal approval of the psychedelic substance by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), arguing that it “surrenders state authority to make an informed determination about classification to federal officials.”
