by | Apr 20, 2026
Today, 4/20, has become an unofficial holiday for marijuana enthusiasts. Rob Sand, the only Democrat running for governor, has chosen this day to release more information about how he’d propose to legalize the sale and use of marijuana in Iowa if he’s elected. Sand has been making the case for this move for months.
“I think a no-brainer is we should be treating cannabis in Iowa the same way we treat alcohol,” Sand said in November during an appearance on Iowa Press on Iowa PBS.
Under the plan Sand released today, only those who are 21 or older would be able to buy marijuana products, however he’d ban public consumption, so smoking marijuana in parks, on sidewalks, in moving vehicles or in other public places would remail illegal.
“It’s a drug. It’s like alcohol. It can be dangerous,” Sand said. “We should regulate and tax its use rather than pretending we want to throw everyone in prison when we’ve already got a workforce crisis anyway.”
Sand has argued a state tax on cannabis products would offset the state’s structural budget deficit. Sand said many Iowans “are driving across state lines” and buying marijuana in neighboring Missouri, Illinois and Minnesota where it’s legal. “They’re fueling that state’s tax coffers, not ours,” Sand said.
Sand would seek limits on THC content, the chemical in marijuana that creates the psychoactive effect, and he’d require cannabis product packaging that’s child resistant.
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