Politics
Talarico Says He’ll Work To Federally Legalize Marijuana If Elected To The Senate
The Democratic candidate running to represent Texas in the U.S. Senate in next month’s elections says he will work to federally legalize marijuana if he wins the race.
“Like prohibition, bans don’t work,” James Talarico, who currently serves as a state representative, said in response to a question from The Texas Tribune about how Congress should regulate hemp-derived THC products.
“Texans aren’t going to stop smoking weed because politicians in Austin or D.C. told them not to,” he said. “People will still use THC, but instead of getting it safely from regulated, local small businesses, they’ll get it from the black market, from the drug cartels.
Talarico said that “Texans use THC to lessen anxiety, seniors use it to manage chronic pain, and veterans use it to treat PTSD,” and that bans “make people’s lives harder, not easier.”
“In the Senate, I’ll support legalizing marijuana for adults—regulating and imposing taxes on its sales to support public safety and health programs,” he said.
Talarico’s Republican opponent for the Senate seat, Ken Paxton, did not respond to the Tribune’s questionnaire, but he has filed lawsuits to block several Texas cities from implementing local voter-approved laws to decriminalize marijuana in his capacity as state attorney general. His office has also defended state hemp THC product restrictions from litigation.
The Texas Democratic Party recently called out Paxton for refusing to answer a question about cannabis policy after he was recently shown in a video posted to X being asked what his thoughts are on the “state’s THC ban.”
“I don’t know the details of it, but let’s talk later,” he replied before quickly stepping away.
Democrats pounced on Paxton’s inability to answer the cannabis question, saying in a press release that he appeared to be “in a panic” when being pressed about the “incredibly unpopular” THC ban before proceeding to “run away” from the questioner.
“Ken Paxton is a coward who runs from questions because he has no answers for his wildly unpopular positions,” Texas Democratic Party Spokesperson Ryan Martin said. “Paxton knows Texans hate this THC ban he has pushed onto people with his nanny-state agenda.”
Meanwhile, Talarico’s new comments to the Tribune aren’t the first time he has voiced support for cannabis reform.
In an interview with The Breakfast Club in August, the Democratic candidate said that keeping marijuana illegal while also moving to restrict hemp THC products is an “insane” form of “corruption.”
“Think about what industries are most worried about THC products being readily available: Big Beer, Big Tobacco, right? And so they were the ones pushing this THC ban because it hurts their bottom line,” he said. “And a lot of research shows that THC—cannabis—these products are safer and less addictive than than beer or tobacco.”
“And so to me, this is a prime example of what corruption looks like when you’ve got big industries buying politicians and pushing bills that harm people, but benefit them financially,” Talarico said.
He has also suggested that Paxton supports banning cannabis in order to aid his political donors in the alcohol and tobacco industries.
“People are outraged across the state, and it’s not any one political party,” Talarico said of recently enacted state restrictions on hemp products in an interview with KTSM-TV. “It’s people across the spectrum.”
“It doesn’t make any sense until you follow the money and realize that it is big beer and big tobacco that are funding the politicians, like Ken Paxton, who turned around and banned these safe THC products in order to enrich the big beer and a big tobacco lobby,” Talarico said.
While Talarico’s suggestion that Paxton’s actions were undertaken to support any specific business can’t be verified, campaign finance records reviewed by Marijuana Moment show that Paxton has accepted more than $500,000 in political donations from the alcohol industry while using the power of his office to crack down on cannabis.
Podcaster Joe Rogan, who lives in and operates a comedy club in Austin, has suggested that taking anti-cannabis actions is a political risk for Republicans.
“They’ve done the THC thing,” he said. “Here’s what Texas doesn’t understand. You will fuck this place up and you will turn the whole thing blue.”
“Kids will turn on you if you tell them they can’t smoke weed,” Rogan said. “They know weed’s not killing anybody.”
Meanwhile, voters in Houston will decide on an initiative to make misdemeanor marijuana possession the “lowest possible enforcement priority” for local police on the November ballot.
Ted Brown, the Libertarian candidate for the Texas U.S. Senate seat, told the Tribune that “there should be no federal regulation of any cannabis or hemp products.”
“I would remove cannabis from the Drug Enforcement Administration Schedule of Controlled Substances and have no federal marijuana laws whatsoever,” he said. “I also want to repeal Texas’ prohibitions against adult cannabis use, as adults should be able to ingest any substances they want to without government permission. Anyone ever convicted of a federal or state marijuana offense should have their record expunged. No one should ever have been arrested for a plant.”
Image element courtesy of Antonioaesparza.
