Industry scorecard for Michigan politicians shows cannabis support has become increasingly bipartisan

It looks like pot really has the power to bring people together.

At least that's what the Michigan Cannabis Industry Association's new election scorecard, released ahead of Tuesday's primary election, suggests. The results of the questionnaire, the industry group's first, showed that state lawmakers across party lines have adopted attitudes more favorable toward cannabis.

The questionnaire was created by Lansing based political consultants Grassroots Midwest. Candidates were given a letter grade from A to F based on their responses.

"The results confirmed what we are seeing firsthand, that support for cannabis has become a bipartisan issue," Robin Schneider, executive director of the MiCIA, said in a statement. "As we have rolled out our industry in Michigan, lawmakers are respecting and upholding the will of the voters."

One hundred percent of Democratic and 90 percent of Republican candidates earned an A or B grade on the scorecard. But it seems like there is still a bit of stigma associated with even talking about weed: while 66 percent of Democratic candidates queried responded to the questionnaire, only 33 percent of Republicans did so.

In the race for Oakland County Sheriff, for example, Democrats Vincent Gregory and Barnett Jones both scored an A for the responses to questions like "Studies show racial disparities in cannabis related law enforcement, despite the fact that white people and people of color use and sell cannabis at the same rate. Will you support policies to minimize these disparities?" and "Would you be supportive of state-licensed cannabis businesses locating in your district?"

Democratic candidate Randy Maloney did not respond, however, nor did Republican incumbent Michael Bouchard, who is known for ruthlessly cracking down on Michigan's medical marijuana industry over the past decade.

You can find the MiCIA Election Scorecard online here.

It's a new era for marijuana in Michigan. Sign up for our weekly weed newsletter, delivered every Tuesday at 4:20 p.m.