Weed was the real winner of the 2020 election

Americans are turning against the war on drugs.

Watch more of our election coverage: http://vox.com/ElectionVideos

On November 3, four American states voted to legalize marijuana: Arizona, New Jersey, Montana and South Dakota. Combined with the other states that have done so in recent years, one in three Americans now live in a state where access to marijuana has been legalized. It shows that Americans are souring on the harsh drug policies that have put millions of people in prison.

But America’s national drug policy is a different story. Under federal law, marijuana is still classified as a “schedule 1” drug, meaning it’s considered to have little medical value and a high risk of abuse, along with drugs like LSD, heroin, ecstasy and psilocybin mushrooms. In states where marijuana has been legalized, that conflict with federal law creates numerous problems for legal marijuana sellers and users. And few national politicians talk about legalizing marijuana throughout the country. But advocates are hoping that by introducing new state laws one by one, Americans who are ready to move on from the country’s decades-long war on drugs will eventually force the federal government’s hand.

Further reading:
Read Vox’s coverage of marijuana legalization in the 2020 election here: https://www.vox.com/2020-presidential-election/2020/11/4/21548800/election-results-marijuana-legalization-drug-decriminalization-new-jersey-arizona-oregon-montana

There’s more about Americans’ support of weed legalization in the latest Gallup survey: https://news.gallup.com/poll/323582/support-legal-marijuana-inches-new-high.aspx

The ACLU’s report on racial disparities in marijuana possession arrests: https://www.aclu.org/report/tale-two-countries-racially-targeted-arrests-era-marijuana-reform

Marijuana Policy Project’s breakdown of state laws: https://www.mpp.org/states/

FBI’s Crime Data Explorer for arrests by state and year: https://crime-data-explorer.fr.cloud.gov/

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50 Comments

  1. HEAVYMETALFAN on August 30, 2021 at 10:50 pm

    The legal age to buy weed should be 13 and up



  2. Chris G. on August 30, 2021 at 10:50 pm

    to bad the American people lost



  3. XX Skullex XX on August 30, 2021 at 10:51 pm

    Hope biden doesn’t decide to make it a schedule 2 like he said he wanted to do that would tear down whole infrastructure thats already in place.



  4. Chris G. on August 30, 2021 at 10:53 pm

    politicians have to be against it because of big pharma lining their pockets



  5. anime girl teehee on August 30, 2021 at 10:53 pm

    yes



  6. Cecilia on August 30, 2021 at 10:53 pm

    weed still seems kinda risky we shouldnt fully legalise it regulate it a bit limit peoples use



  7. Joshua Gipson on August 30, 2021 at 10:54 pm

    Texas: No beans in our chili, No weed in our state!



  8. WAWHJTS on August 30, 2021 at 10:54 pm

    I just googled it weed is safe if you’re over 25 because thats the time your brain is fully developed.



  9. JERRY PIXAR on August 30, 2021 at 10:55 pm

    Along with Willie, I’m "cheif tester"



  10. Aidan Loucks on August 30, 2021 at 10:58 pm

    Who’s here after Biden kicked everyone (except Kamala) whose smoked weed even once in their life off the White House staff lol



  11. Adriano Júnior on August 30, 2021 at 10:58 pm

    Meth was the real winner of the election



  12. Jessica Bales executioner076 on August 30, 2021 at 10:58 pm



  13. Michael Wagner on August 30, 2021 at 11:03 pm

    Ks is medical use now



  14. Polydynamix on August 30, 2021 at 11:04 pm

    Invest in cannabis now. You don’t know me and you’ve no reason to believe me but keep in mind that Kamilla is invested in cannabis. It’s on the brink of getting big and once it does the stock prices won’t be anywhere near as low as they are now. Take 50 bucks and put it in one of the ones that’s already established and prepared to scale production when demand spikes. Just throw a few bucks here and there into it.



  15. Federico Ezequiel Vega Barros on August 30, 2021 at 11:04 pm

    Weed is the president of the US



  16. Theo Smith on August 30, 2021 at 11:04 pm

    maybe we should stop calling it marijuana…



  17. Lucelio Rodrigues on August 30, 2021 at 11:04 pm

    For now, at least medical porpouse is necessery



  18. Felix We on August 30, 2021 at 11:06 pm

    Worldwide Legalization please 💚



  19. Dale on August 30, 2021 at 11:07 pm

    Shut up vox



  20. The Blade on August 30, 2021 at 11:11 pm

    we gotta get the kids on LSD



  21. rummy rummyrum on August 30, 2021 at 11:12 pm

    The government needs to poison marijuana themselves instead of stopping it.



  22. Woosh Karen on August 30, 2021 at 11:12 pm

    I live in California and everyone here either smokes marijuana or has experimented at some point 😂



  23. Benjamin S. on August 30, 2021 at 11:12 pm

    Show the amount of Marijuana when it comes to arrest rates.



  24. Cyan on August 30, 2021 at 11:13 pm

    Shouldn’t WE be the ones voting on legalized Marijuana?? Why do the politicians matter AT ALL, we elect them, they don’t elect us



  25. The Time of the Place on August 30, 2021 at 11:16 pm

    Free my Brother. My brother is still in jail for weed and weed is legal now and people start businesses about businesses to sell and distribute marijuana and my brother is still in jail



  26. Manka on August 30, 2021 at 11:17 pm

    Still better choice than Trump,



  27. CHECKMATE on August 30, 2021 at 11:20 pm

    But dc is a federal state



  28. The Toad. on August 30, 2021 at 11:20 pm

    nice



  29. Joshua Gipson on August 30, 2021 at 11:22 pm

    Fun Fact: Portugal legalized all drugs, and national drug use actually went down!



  30. Justin Kase on August 30, 2021 at 11:22 pm

    Imm get high in front of the Police. After This. Wish me luck?



  31. Abby Stewart on August 30, 2021 at 11:22 pm

    The only solution to this problem is legalization at a NATIONAL level..



  32. Deez on August 30, 2021 at 11:23 pm

    I was so confused when I found this video at first



  33. Puyuan Zhang on August 30, 2021 at 11:24 pm

    Drug policy strategist sounds a lot more ominous than it actually is.



  34. jim crow on August 30, 2021 at 11:24 pm

    They don’t want marijuana to be ‘easy access baby’. People who use marijuana don’t give a ****. They want you terrorised and ready to go to war. Imagine if the only concern we had about Afghanistan was the hash they grow. If they paid decent money for Afghan hash maybe the Taliban would go away.



  35. Jonathan Blanton on August 30, 2021 at 11:25 pm

    Don’t know how true it is that both parties "agree" on drug legalization. Support among Democrats/liberals is near universal while among Republicans/conservatives it’s a minority or around 50/50. Add those together and these ballot initiatives can pass. But it’s still a hot button issue for a lot of conservatives.



  36. The Time of the Place on August 30, 2021 at 11:27 pm

    Free my Brother! My brother is still in jail and weed is legal now and people start businesses about businesses to sell and distribute marijuana and my brother is still in jail



  37. zacharia on August 30, 2021 at 11:28 pm

    imagine how far the world would be if william randalf hearst was never born.



  38. I.D.E.K. & CO on August 30, 2021 at 11:29 pm

    legalizing drugs is bad
    you dont give in to crackheads demands



  39. Zoe on August 30, 2021 at 11:30 pm

    long live president weed of america



  40. Ray Q on August 30, 2021 at 11:30 pm

    Reading the comments session of this video is just devastating… Last time I check, the medical academia are still very concerned of the impact of marijuana on human health, especially mental health. Since there are very limited research on marijuana’s impact, we are simply moving too fast on the legislations side… In fact, this shows how anti-intellectual American public has become… It’s so sad that we have the most distinguished professors and researchers, but we are simply ignoring their advices on and on… Also, an even bigger problem is, most Americans have lost interested in pursue so called "long-term" enjoyment but drawn in the instant pleasure… In another word, we have lost hope in life… This is a alarming sign of empire collapsing which has been seen over and over in history, such as Rome, Tsing Dynasty and Maya… Hopefully this time it will be different…



  41. Maiden Utah on August 30, 2021 at 11:33 pm

    From the war against drugs to the drug against wars.



  42. Dan Klown on August 30, 2021 at 11:34 pm

    Wish maryland would legalize recreational.



  43. Cassie Yeo Lin on August 30, 2021 at 11:34 pm

    tegridy farms won



  44. Andrew the gamr on August 30, 2021 at 11:34 pm

    I know why everyone likes weed now they want to be Snoop Dogg



  45. Jonathan Jollimore on August 30, 2021 at 11:39 pm

    Yea this made a lot police unions mad because how dare people get or way to harass them over a victimless crime



  46. EagleT Vlogs on August 30, 2021 at 11:40 pm

    yessir



  47. Mr Swag on August 30, 2021 at 11:41 pm

    Yay! Weed 2020 won.



  48. Guda Guda on August 30, 2021 at 11:42 pm

    Yo, Medford, Oregon here, just chilling in the cloud



  49. fadilah abdulhalim on August 30, 2021 at 11:45 pm

    Lost history medical marjan 💚 Asia 1511



  50. BraydeN64 on August 30, 2021 at 11:45 pm

    Republicanibbus