There is accumulating evidence that those voting a pro-medical marijuana line have gained success in defeating ardently anti-cannabis candidates. DRCNet detailed results of several recent California elections in its March 8, 2002 edition of This Week Online with DRCNET. The first was the stunning primary defeat of Richard Riorden by conservative Republican newcomer, Bill Simon. Riorden, the Bush Administration’s choice to face incumbent California Governor Gray Davis in the fall, reportedly told reporters, when asked about medical marijuana, that he supported the federal law banning it. In addition, avowed marijuana foe, Sheriff Dennis Lewis of Humbolt County, lost his position to challenger, Gary Philip, while Butte County Sheriff Scott Mackenzie, known as a marijuana hard-liner who bragged about his record pot seizures, was defeated by Perry Reniff. As noted with Proposition 215, medical marijuana activism that starts in California has a habit of moving eastward.

In addition, the student activist political action committee, SACPAC, launched an intensive campaign to defeat U.S. Representative, Mark Souder (R-IN), author of the Higher Education Act (HEA) that denies financial aid to students who have drug convictions. This law poses a particular hardship for patients who want to improve their lives through education, but become entangled in the criminal justice system when caught with their illegal medicine.

The notorious 2000 Presidential election could represent the beginning of medical marijuana’s political influence. With 49.97% of the vote, President George Bush took the State of Ohio, including its 21 electoral votes, from rival, Al Gore (46.46%), by only 3.51%. With percentages of 2.5% going to Ralph Nader (Green Party), 0.3% to Harry Browne (Libertarian Party), and 0.8% to other independents, Bush did not actually win a majority of the Ohio vote. He fell short by 1,479 votes. Obviously, the margin that gave Ohio to the Republicans was very slim indeed.

During the campaign, Al Gore "waffled" on issues like medical marijuana, supporting it at a December 1999 New Hampshire television forum, but opposing it in an MTV interview about six weeks before the election.

George Bush, perhaps understanding the underlying political power of this issue, only commented that he "supported states rights." To some, this may have signaled that a Bush Administration would leave California Proposition 215 alone. That may well have been enough to hand the Republicans the White House by shifting the marginal vote to Bush or independents and away from Gore in key battleground states like Ohio and Florida.