NORML Releases Gubernatorial Scorecard

[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]A[/dropcap] major cannabis advocacy group has released their annual list of governors rated by their cannabis policy and comments related to it.

The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML, released its annual scorecard, and the scores definitely reflect on the rapid movement of cannabis legalization in the United States.  For the first time, over half of the governors got a passing “grade” from NORML based on their policies surrounding cannabis.

NORML stated that public opinion is helping push state reform in cannabis regulation, even as 27 state governors got a C rating or better, including nine A’s much higher than last year’s two A’s scored.

Democrats tended to score better than their Republican counterparts. All of the A grades are democrats, and none of the Democrat governors scored less than a C grade. Every F on the scorecard was linked to a Republican governor.

“There exists now for the first-time significant political support among a majority of U.S. governors for marijuana policy reform,” NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano said in an email to Forbes. “But this support is also more partisan than ever before—with Democratic governors in growing numbers advocating for change while Republican governors are either remaining silent on the issue or campaigning in opposition to such reforms. Just as Republican voters have evolved on the issue of marijuana policy reform over the past decades, Republican elected officials must do likewise in order to remain in step with the views of the electorate.”

Two states have a N/A grade for their governors—Alaska and Alabama, which have neither enacted legislation nor vetoed any. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has declined to answer questions more than once about her stance on cannabis, and Gov. Mike Dunleavy of Alaska spoke out against the tax changes in the state and recently announced a change to the cannabis industry’s overseeing board membership.