Last month was something of a whirlwind for proponents of marijuana legalization across the United States. The New Hampshire House Ways and Means Committee sent that state’s legalization bill, H.B. 492, to the floor on March 20. Maryland’s House of Delegates voted for the legalization of medical marijuana, while the Maryland Senate approved decriminalizing weed possession below a certain threshold. Public Policy Polling released the results of a poll finding Colorado voters even more in favor of legalized marijuana than it was two months ago when the state went the legalization route.

California’s four ballot initiatives have fallen short of the necessary signatures; organizers for one of the four are expected to file and try again this cycle, while Florida’s House approved a bill supporting research and development of medical marijuana. Utah’s legislature gave the thumbs up on a medical marijuana initiative, and Washington, D.C. — which only recently decriminalized marijuana — may see a ballot initiative legalizing marijuana in the city in November.

However, House Republicans on Capitol Hill passed legislation several weeks ago — the ENFORCE the Law Act — that would allow Congress to sue the President for not enforcing national drug laws in states that have passed legalization measures. These vast differences in federal versus state policy are occurring even as the majority of Americans support marijuana legalization.

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Of course, the pro-legalization and pro-decriminalization sides don’t bring a lot of the usual influence to bear. Organizations leading the charge (and their PACs), such as the The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), contributed less than $100,000 to political candidates at the federal level in the 2012 cycle, vastly underspending other interest groups and industries across the spectrum. As an issue that’s only just begun to find traction on the national stage, low-level spending may be indicative of low fundraising totals for advocates, who also posted similarly underwhelming lobbying expenditures.

Which brings us to this week’s Politiquizz question:

“Two major marijuana advocacy groups spent money on federal lobbying in 2013: the Marijuana Policy Project and the National Cannabis Industry Association. Two bills made the top three bills lobbied on by both groups – what were these two pieces of legislation called?”

The first person to submit the entire correct answer to [email protected] will win a free OpenSecrets.org bumper sticker. The answer can be found somewhere on our website. Happy searching!

In our last Politiquizz, we asked:





“How much more outside money has been spent in the 2014 cycle so far than by this time in 2010?”





Congratulations to Mitch from Arizona, who was the first to submit the correct answer:





$23.9 million more, as of March 12.





Image: Lega l Colorado Marijuana Grow, Dec. 23, 2013 (Flickr/Brett Levin)



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