Friend,

I lead DPA’s efforts around marijuana legalization, focusing on policies that put people’s health and wellbeing first.

With 4/20 coming tomorrow, I need to tell you a hard truth: our decades of progress on marijuana reform can still be rolled back. In fact, legislators in several states are already trying to make it happen.

I know you don’t want that. That’s why I’m asking you to give a 4/20 gift that will make a real difference in this pivotal moment. Right now, your gift will go twice as far to fight for marijuana legalization.

Here’s just some of what’s happening:

• In February, Ohio’s Senate advanced a bill to gut parts of a marijuana legalization law that a majority of voters approved as a ballot initiative. And now Ohioans are at risk of increased criminal penalties and discrimination for possession and use.
• In Nebraska — where voters also supported legalization — legislators are considering a bill to prohibit marijuana flower and edibles, which would restrict access to regulated products for patients who use them to manage pain and other medical conditions.
• And Russell Vought, the Trump administration’s influential budget director, has gone on the record calling marijuana a “gateway drug” and calling for the rollback of state-level marijuana reforms.

If there’s anything I’ve learned in this work, it’s that backlash can move quickly, undoing years of progress in the blink of an eye. We cannot let that happen.

We need marijuana legalization. It benefits communities and individuals harmed by prohibition, while protecting public health and safety. Legalization can create stable jobs, increase housing access by removing a criminal record, and expand health services through marijuana tax revenue.

Will you give today, Friend? Your matched gift will help protect our wins, push for full legalization, and fight back against political backlash for marijuana legalization.