Marijuana Blog

A Texas congressional candidate who favors marijuana legalization beat eight-term incumbent El Paso Rep. Silvestre Reyes Tuesday in the Democratic primary for the congressional district closest to Mexico's Ciudad Juarez, one of the most violent cities in the world.

Beto O’Rourke unseated Reyes in what is a heavily Democratic district, meaning O’Rourke has a good shot at winning in the general election.

Even after Reyes ran an ad attacking O’Rourke for his stance on drugs, he still lost his seat. Or did he lose his seat because of O’Rourke’s stance and the incredible violence the voters in south Texas hear about every day?

The bottom line is we have tried it Silvestre Reyes’ way and it has been a violent, unmitigated disaster. Violence from Mexico is spilling over the border and people are scared. They see the failure of The War on Drugs. They want to try a new way.

Unfortunately O’Rourke says that while he favors marijuana legalization he wouldn’t push for it in Congress. But in theory his election would mean one more vote for any bills that deal with marijuana law reform.

It’s time we start making politicians pay for their positions at the ballot box.