A supportive state-level chief exec, like New Jersey’s Phil Murphy, can push to expand existing marijuana programs. An anti-weed governor, on the other hand, can block the will of his state’s own voters, which is exactly what Maine’s Paul LePage has been doing. Last year, he vetoed a bill to establish a recreational marijuana market, even though his state's voters had said in 2016 they wanted to create one, and now he's threatening to veto another recreational marijuana bill passed by lawmakers. (The legislature may be able to override his veto this time.)
In the new gubernatorial report card released Tuesday by the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), LePage got a D- while Murphy was one of two governors to score an A. The report card shows some clear trends: Democrats tend to be more pot-friendly than Republicans, only two governors support the legalization of weed for recreational as well as medicinal purposes, and very broadly, governors are much more anti-cannabis than their constituents.