A Republican Senator from Oklahoma gave an interview with Ask a Pol last week, and his assessment of Biden’s strategy is interesting to say the least, and alarmingly reductive at worst.
“It’s amazing to me the number of stories I’ve already read that this is Biden’s plan to be able to win the election is to get more people to smoke marijuana. I was like, okay, well, that’s quite a plan, ‘I can only win the election when more people smoke marijuana,’” said James Lankford.
I love the quotes used, as if it’s exactly what Biden is thinking. While there’s certainly an advantage to legalizing marijuana, considering it’s a popular position for most of the country, but equating that to needing to get more people high is a bit of a silly twist on the whole thing.
But Lankford’s view on marijuana is, ironically, clouding his critical thinking on the subject. He’s entirely against the idea of legalization.
“I think it’s a bad idea, and I think it sends all the wrong message about the drug use in our country,” he said.
“Marijuana doesn’t make our families stronger, it doesn’t make our workplaces more efficient, it doesn’t make our streets safer. So to say that the solution for the election for Biden is to get more people to smoke marijuana, I find very bizarre.”
There are some other typical talking points, with Lankford citing Colorado as an example where crime went up after legalization, and his own state of Oklahoma inviting criminal organizations to the state after they have introduced a medical marijuana program. As usual, there isn’t much evidence to point to for this, but the claim persists.
Read or listen to the interview at Ask a Pol.
