“The industry’s pursuit of Republican gatekeepers has come at the expense of priorities such as patient protections, home cultivation and social equity, treating them as bargaining chips rather than principles worth defending.”
By Ellen Mellody, KCSA Strategic Communications
The cannabis industry just received a hard lesson in political arithmetic—one that underscores the difference between promises and votes, access and actual influence, and the danger of mistaking a politician’s reassuring words for a meaningful governing strategy.
Last week, Democrats won control of Congress, but let’s not pretend the midterms were a national referendum on cannabis. The more revealing signals came from the states.
In Massachusetts, roughly 76 percent of voters rejected an effort to repeal recreational marijuana sales. In Idaho, about two-thirds rejected an amendment that would have stripped voters of the ability to legalize marijuana through citizen initiatives. That was a vote for democratic power, not legalization itself. A recent Kansas survey found 65 percent support for medical cannabis, including 72 percent of Democrats and 59 percent of Republicans.
The voters are not the problem, but our political strategy sure is.
My years working in the Clinton White House, on presidential campaigns and advising the cannabis industry have taught me that political progress requires building relationships, persuading skeptics and knowing when to hold elected officials accountable. That experience has also reinforced the importance of building relationships across party lines, something the cannabis industry has not always prioritized as it has sought to strengthen its ties with Republican leadership, sometimes at the expense of longstanding Democratic allies.
Consider the money. America First Agriculture Action, a PAC funded by major cannabis companies, raised $13 million and, by September 22, had spent more than $3.7 million helping a dozen Republican House incumbents.
In Pennsylvania, Spotlight PA documented more than $1.6 million spent lobbying by 26 cannabis interests in 2024. While those disclosures do not establish which party received the lobbying attention, they do establish that companies can find money for influence.
The industry’s pursuit of Republican gatekeepers has come at the expense of priorities such as patient protections, home cultivation and social equity, treating them as bargaining chips rather than principles worth defending.
Pennsylvania offers a telling example. Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro and Sen. Sharif Street have pushed for legalization, alongside Republican Sen. Dan Laughlin. Yet reform stalled in the Republican-controlled Senate, while Republican gubernatorial nominee Stacy Garrity pledged to veto legalization. Voters rejected Garrity last Tuesday, reelecting Shapiro.
There is a history lesson here that many seem determined to forget.
In 2013, President Barack Obama’s Justice Department issued the Cole memo, giving regulated state cannabis markets room to develop while preserving federal enforcement priorities. President Donald Trump’s first attorney general, Jeff Sessions, rescinded that guidance in 2018. President Joe Biden pardoned federal simple-possession offenses, ordered a scheduling review in 2022, and his Justice Department proposed moving marijuana to Schedule III in 2024. Democratic majorities passed federal legalization legislation in the House in both 2020 and 2022. Kamala Harris campaigned on legalization in 2024.
Let’s give Republicans credit where it is due. Trump signed the 2018 Farm Bill, which legalized hemp. His administration also moved medical marijuana products to Schedule III this April. Neither action amounted to broad federal legalization. Meanwhile, Trump signed the 2025 spending law imposing sweeping new hemp restrictions, with major provisions now scheduled to take effect in December. The industry applauded promises of relief while its own operating ground shifted beneath it.
Yes, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) had a chance to advance legalization under Democratic control and did not deliver. Democrats deserve scrutiny, too, but disappointment with Schumer does not erase the Cole memo, Biden’s review or the Republican lawmakers who repeatedly blocked state reforms. Nor does it justify pretending that a social media endorsement is the same thing as a law.
This is the false prophet problem. The most dangerous political messenger is not necessarily the one who opposes you. It is the one who promises salvation, collects your loyalty and leaves you Waiting for Godot. For years, too much of this industry mistook proximity to power for actual power.
The answer is not to become a Democratic industry. It is to become a genuinely nonpartisan one. Support lawmakers based on their records, not the letter after their names. Fund Democrats who have carried reform bills and Republicans willing to deliver votes. Publish legislative scorecards, coordinate political giving and demand measurable results from lobbyists.
Rebuild the grassroots capacity that made legalization possible. Invest in patients, veterans, small operators and communities harmed by prohibition. Support organizations such as Marijuana Policy Project, NORML, Americans for Safe Access and Students for Sensible Drug Policy, rather than expecting them to organize on scraps. Stop rolling your eyes at social equity programs. Fix what does not work and do not abandon the principle.
The election did not guarantee reform, and Trump still holds the veto pen. But it did offer the cannabis industry an opportunity to rethink its political strategy and recognize that flattery is no substitute for results. The industry can continue financing false prophets who promise reform but fail to deliver, or it can invest in building a bipartisan coalition capable of turning those promises into law. Only one of those choices deserves another dollar.
Ellen Mellody is a senior vice president at KCSA Strategic Communications with nearly 30 years of experience in political strategy, public affairs and corporate communications, including service in the Clinton White House and senior roles on the Gore, Kerry and Obama presidential campaigns.
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