Marijuana legalization might be coming as a US Senator introduces a bill that would legalize and regulate it.

Senator Ron Wyden's official Senate photo. 

A new bill that would legalize and regulate marijuana has been introduced in the Senate. CBS News. The bill was introduced by Senator Ron Wyden (D) and would seek to end the conflict between the Federal Government and states that have decided to legalize the drug. It is unclear how the bill would pass in the Senate but a similar bill seems likely to pass in the House. There is bipartisan support for marijuana legalization and President Donald Trump may sign the bill as he has expressed some support for reform as well.

My Comment:

Before I say anything else I have to roll my eyes at the name of this bill. Wyden named it S.420, which is just dumb. So dumb in fact that I want to oppose the bill now just on the name alone even though I don't disagree with the bills goals. Such a dumb joke.

That being said, I wouldn't be shocked if this bill passes. The Republicans do control the Senate and have historically been opposed to drug legalization. That being said, there is more bipartisan support on this issue than one would think and basically the entire states rights/libertarian wings of the GOP want less criminalization of pot. Without hard numbers it's not possible to tell if this will pass or not but I think it's not impossible.

I am thinking most if not all Democratic Senators will support this bill and it's possible that enough GOP Senators cross over to vote for it as well. It's no guarantee but it's not outside the realm of possibility. Support for marijuana legalization is higher than it has been and I think that it wouldn't be massively shocking if some of the GOP goes along for the ride. 

Assuming it does, I also think there is a decent chance that Trump would sign the bill into law. He's pretty big into states rights and did just sign into law a major crime reform bill. He probably thinks that throwing people in prison for pot isn't worth it and knows that he could score major points towards his reelection campaign if he manages to legalize pot. 

People would be scrambling to take credit for the legalization though. Even though I think this legislation gets bipartisan support, both sides will try and take credit for it. And I think both sides would probably deserve credit. Regardless of what you think of the matter, pot legalization is popular and becoming much more common as states and countries pass decriminalization, medical marijuana and full legalization laws. Passing a bill like this would be an example of the government actually listening to what people want. 

My personal opinion is that pot is pretty stupid and it's not something I would want to try. But I also don't really see a need for it to be illegal. I mean I am a major gun rights supporter and the same kind of false arguments against gun ownership are trotted out all the time against pot use. I generally think that people should be allowed to live and let live and if that means they want to smoke pot, then I'm fine with it. 

Speaking of gun ownership, I would hope that somewhere in these bills there is a change to the background check system. Right now if you live in a legal state for pot you either have to forgo gun ownership or forgo pot as you can't do both. Obviously, guns and drugs don't mix but as long as you aren't doing both at the same time I don't see why you can't be a responsible gun owner and also smoke a joint once and awhile. Hopefully the law adjusts this. I don't see why it wouldn't but you never know.

I also think that police resources would be better used on other things that going after pot. There is enough crime in this country that we don't need to be going after people that smoke a dime bag every once and awhile. 

Finally, I think this is one of the few issues left that there is an opportunity for bipartisan deal making in Washington. There are very few things left that both Republicans and Democrats can agree on and I think this has potential to be one of them. There are, of course, people in both parties that disagree with legalization but I think they are outnumbered by the ones that do and if they do manage to make this work it is proof that despite our differences we can still work together when we agree. I will be very interested in seeing how this all plays out.