Thor Benson / Cannabis News Box Contributor

Over 70 percent of Democrats, compared to around half of Republicans, favor fully legalizing cannabis. It’s clear that the Democratic Party is starting to embrace this fact, and the Democratic Party of New York state has now decided to make legalization part of its platform. New York is the fourth most populated state in the country, so that’s a big step for legalization overall.

Over 60 percent of all New Yorkers favor legalization, and over 70 percent of Democrats in New York support it. That’s pretty much equal to the rest of the country. Legalization is becoming a bigger and bigger issue in this year’s gubernatorial race in New York, and that’s partially because progressive Democratic candidate Cynthia Nixon has a serious plan for legalization.

“Cynthia Nixon’s stance in favor of legalization has forced Governor Cuomo to evolve quickly on this issue,” Doug Greene, the legislative director for NORML’s New York office, told Cannabis News Box. “In addition to the state Democratic Party’s endorsement in its platform, we’re also expecting the results of a Department of Health study that we anticipate will recommend legalization sometime this week.”

Greene said New Yorkers are looking for pro-legalization candidates in this year’s election, and it could be an issue that drives people to the polls. In the past, we’ve seen legalization can get people to vote in higher numbers.

“In New York, we don’t have an initiative and referendum process, so here that would depend on how much candidates emphasize the issue,” Greene said.

New Yorkers are looking for serious criminal justice reform, and it looks like legalization could be one of the ways to achieve that. Greene said legalization could help solve many problems that New Yorkers are concerned with.

“Legalization would solve the criminalization of marijuana users,” he said. “It would also help promote respect for the law, save law enforcement expenditures for actual public safety concerns like violent and property crime and take away an avenue for law enforcement to arrest and criminalize communities of color.”

With Democratic Party chapters across the nation embracing legalization, and the large support for it, it could be an issue that helps get Democrats elected all over the place. If New York can get legalization done with similar support for it compared to the rest of the country, it seems the country could finally get it done too.