On April 20, 2018, New Mexico Junior Senator Martin Heinrich announced, via social media, a seemingly stark divergence from his previous opinion on legalization of recreational marijuana. The senator's tweet, which simply said, "It's time to legalize marijuana," was quickly met with a deluge of support from Heinrich's (largely Democratic) followers. Heinrich later solidified his image as an advocate for marijuana law reform by co-sponsoring the Marijuana Freedom and Opportunity Act, a bill that, if passed, would pave the way for legally regulated cannabis sales nationwide, and by writing a Congressional report on the economic situation. advantages of legalizing marijuana. Heinrich's strong support for marijuana law reform came as a surprise to many who had followed his senatorial campaign in 2012, during which he expressed ambiguous feelings on the topic (Oxford, 2018). After careful examination of this essay, it becomes clear that Heinrich's decision to publicly support marijuana legalization in 2018 was part of a clever effort to maintain the support of his Democratic base in light of recent public opinion polls on marijuana and Gary Johnson's decision to enter the 2018 Senate race. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Over the past century, the legality of selling and possessing cannabis in the United States has remained a controversial topic. Until the late 1800s, hemp was cultivated prolifically throughout America. The plant was used both for its strong fibers, which could be made into ropes or fabrics, and for its medicinal properties. Hemp was also used as a form of legal currency in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania.1 American views on marijuana changed dramatically, however, in the early 1900s, when the Mexican Revolution resulted in an influx of Mexican immigrants entering the United States. Anti-immigrant sentiments have increased in concert with anti-drug campaigns associated with prohibition; before long, the two issues were mistakenly conflated, leading to the idea that Mexican immigrants were eroding the moral fabric of white America by smoking and distributing marijuana. In 1930, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics was created to address the nation's problems with opiates and cocaine, but the institution came to exert great influence over cannabis laws as well. The office's appointed director, Harry Anslinger, was vehemently against marijuana use, believing it caused violence, psychosis, Satanism, and racial unrest (Adams, 2016). Anslinger's crusade against marijuana led to the passage of laws such as the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 and the Boggs Act of 1952 that made the plant illegal and imposed increasingly severe penalties for cannabis-related crimes. Since the 1950s, support for legal marijuana has gone through several phases. During the 1960s and 1970s, the country's opinion on drugs was highly polarized, with Nixon attempting to instill harsher punishments for possessing and selling marijuana, while liberals campaigned for legalization. During the 1970s, Congress repealed many of the marijuana-related mandatory minimum sentencing policies of the 1950s, and 11 states decriminalized marijuana possession. During the 1980s and 1990s, however, the country went through an era of conservative drug policies, reinstating mandatory minimum sentencesand launching national advertising campaigns to discourage young people from using cannabis. In recent years, Americans have developed a renewed enthusiasm for legalizing the use of marijuana for both medical and recreational purposes. According to Gallup polls, the number of Americans who believe marijuana should be legal has steadily increased from 25% of the adult population in the mid-1990s to 66% in 2018 (McCarthy, 2018). Marijuana has been fully legalized by eleven states and the District of Columbia, decriminalized by 15 other states (including New Mexico), and legalized for medical purposes in 21 states (including New Mexico). Despite these numbers, marijuana remains federally classified as an illegal substance. This conflict of laws remains a point of contention between federal and state governments, each claiming jurisdiction over overlapping territories. Marijuana law reform is a controversial issue that has affected all Americans in one way or another. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, “marijuana arrests now account for more than half of all drug arrests in the United States.” Additionally, more than $3.9 trillion is spent annually in the United States to enforce marijuana laws. Given these numbers, any American who pays taxes or uses public services is affected by our country's current marijuana policies. In his seminal article, Congress: The Electoral Connection, David Mayhew argues that “members of the United States Congress are interested in being reelected – indeed, in their role here as abstractions, interested in nothing else” (Mayhew, 1974). These words ring true when we consider the motivations behind Martin Heinrich's decision to publicly support marijuana law reform in 2018, as well as his decision to refrain from issuing a decisive public opinion on the issue in 2012. When Heinrich Decided to Run to the U.S. Senate in 2012, he undoubtedly knew he had significant advantages from the beginning of the race. He was running for an open Senate seat that was vacated by a fellow Democrat. New Mexico, once considered a swing state, voted for Obama over McCain in 2008 by a margin of nearly 4 percent, signaling to many that New Mexico had become a sure Democratic state. Early polls continued to show Heinrich leading against his opponent, Republican Heather Wilson. Heinrich probably felt quite confident in his ability to be elected to the Senate in 2012. A national poll in 2012 showed that the country itself had mixed feelings about the legalization of marijuana. Gallup polls showed that almost exactly half the country at the time favored legalizing marijuana. Given his consistent lead in the polls and estimated level of public support for marijuana law reform, Heinrich had everything to lose and little to gain by taking a strong position on marijuana legalization. When asked about the issue during an interview with the Albuquerque Journal in 2012, Heinrich states, “I certainly support states being able to use medical marijuana with a doctor's prescription, there's no question about that. I wouldn't say I'm sufficiently informed on the issue to engage further." Six years later, in 2018, Martin Heinrich was a sitting senator running for re-election. In early 2018, Heinrich's initial tweet expressing support for marijuana law reform was likely a response to simple polling numbers. Not only did national polls show that about two-thirds of Americans favored the..