*By Jacqueline Corba*
Voters are effectively pressuring lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to publicly support the easing cannabis laws, said the deputy director of the National Organization for Marijuana Laws.
In an interview Tuesday with Cheddar, the deputy director, Paul Armentano said politicians were realizing that marijuana enjoyed greater popularity than they did.
"With the midterm elections approaching, more and more members of Congress from both parties now acknowledge that advocating for marijuana policy reform is not a political liability, rather its a political opportunity," said Armentano.
Last Friday ー on 4/20, of all days ー Sen. Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, introduced a bill to decriminalize weed. A few days earlier, the majority leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, had introduced a bill to remove hemp from the list of controlled substances.
Senators Kamala Harris (D-CA) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) have called on Attorney General Jeff Sessions to stop using federal anti-drug laws to block medical marijuana research. And even President Trump changed his tune last week when he promised Sen. Cory Gardner, a Colorado Republican, he would support legal protections in states where marijuana is legal.
A majority of Americans ー 60 percent, according to a Pew Research Center poll ー said they support marijuana legalization.
For full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/inside-the-momentum-driving-politicians-to-back-cannabis).
Wayne County, where Detroit is located, is the third deadliest county in the nation, as its coronavirus death toll has recently climbed to 346, with African Americans accounting for more than 40 percent of that total
President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened to freeze U.S. funding to the World Health Organization, saying the international group had “missed the call” on the coronavirus pandemic.
Blair Braun from Wisconsin made her way to her polling place despite the ongoing coronavirus crisis but was upset by the necessity of having to do so following court reversals of attempts to postpone the primary or extend absentee voting.
With over 1,400 confirmed coronavirus cases in the city so far, San Diego is prepping for a surge in coronavirus patients.
A big rally on Wall Street is losing steam in afternoon trading Tuesday, undercut in part by another plunge in the price of oil.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday asked President Donald Trump to transition the USNS Comfort, docked at New York City, to begin transitioning to treat coronavirus patients.
Gov. Cuomo revealed that 731 people had died on Monday, the largest single-day increase, bringing the state's total reported death toll to 5,489, roughly half of the nation's total.
President Trump, in spite of his well-documented falsehoods, and mischaracterizations, has so far avoided the bipartisan perception of a “credibility gap” that bedeviled President Lyndon B. Johnson during the Vietnam War era.
The Transportation Department on Tuesday finalized guidance requiring airlines to maintain a minimum level of service to be eligible for some $50 billion in federal aid that was included in the $2 trillion relief package that President Trump signed March 2
The Navy's acting secretary has been forced to apologize after a profanity-laden broadside in which he called the fired commander of the coronavirus-stricken USS Theodore Roosevelt "too naive or too stupid.”
