Across the board, things aren’t looking good for the Democrats in November. However, the one place where there is a potential for an upset is Pennsylvania, the battleground state that effectively shot Biden up to the presidency in 2020.
Unsurprisingly, marijuana looks like it will be a large talking point between candidates on both aisles.
The Republican side of the battle hasn’t been decided yet, with a runoff expected, but Dr. Oz is considered the favorite. He has come out unequivocally against marijuana legalization. In an on-camera interview, Oz thinks weed will make unemployment rise in the state.
“There are not enough Pennsylvanians to work in Pennsylvania, so giving them pot so they stay home is not, I don’t think, an ideal move.”
Mehmet Oz says he disagrees with Fetterman’s position that marijuana should be legalized because Pennsylvanians need to get back their “mojo” and get back to work pic.twitter.com/0G7tiMIyYZ
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 19, 2022
The unemployment rate in the state sits at 4.9%, an extremely good number for employment.
“You gotta give them their mojo, and I don’t want marijuana to be a hindrance to that.” said Dr. Oz.
The Democrat challenger John Fetterman, on the other hand, is a big advocate for marijuana legalization, and has been for some years now. In 2020, he wrote an Op-Ed for the Washington Post arguing for its release from the Controlled Substances Act.
For decades, we’ve criminalized a plant + people who consumed it.
What an bizarre, destructive superstition.
Legal Weed for USA. 🇺🇸 https://t.co/Xc9Wh1kgQL
— John Fetterman (@JohnFetterman) December 8, 2020
He has even said that Biden is being “cowardly” by only gearing towards decriminalization.
Fetterman’s advocacy is proving effective, considering he beat out his other Democratic competitor with 59% of the vote over 26.5%. He has proven to be a grassroots “regular folk” figure in the vein of Bernie Sanders, and the excitement in voters this brews up has the potential for Fetterman to win out over the Republican favorite, whether that’s Dr. Oz or not.
November will give us a great insight into Pennsylvania’s future in terms of marijuana, and it looks like a nail-biter.
