Libertarian Iowa Gubernatorial Candidate Releases Pro Cannabis Legalization Ad

In a new ad titled “Dear Kim, WEED,” Rick Stewart, the Libertarian gubernatorial candidate in Iowa, called out Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) over her position on cannabis legalization.  

In the ad, Stewart apparently stood a few miles from the border of Illinois and Iowa and stated that were he to buy cannabis in Iowa he would be “buying it from a crook” but were he to buy it just an “over the bridge” he’d be “buying it from a reputable businessperson.” 

“Our laws today in Iowa put people in rape cages because they smoke marijuana. You’re going to lose your college scholarship, you’re going to lose your job, you’re going to lose your kids, you’re going to lose everything because in Iowa we think cannabis is a gateway drug. Well, gateway to what?” — Stewart in the ad 

Stewart points out that former presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Vice President Kamala Harris have each admitted to consuming cannabis at some point in their lives. 

“A gateway to what?” he muses in the ad, “to the White House?”   

Stewart also appears in front of a corn field and asks why he can grow corn but “can’t grow weed?”  

“They’re both plants,” he says. 

In the ad, Stewart points out cannabis plants growing in a ditch (it’s unclear whether the plants are growing in Iowa or Illinois) and says that “God put them there.” He follows up by asking “Kim” why she thinks she is “smarter than God.” 

“If a farmer wants to grow corn, let him grow corn. If a farmer wants to grow weed, let him grow weed. So, when is the drug war going to end in Iowa, Kim?” he asks before facing the camera and answering his own question. “Easy answer. The day I’m governor.”  

In a July poll from the Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa, Stewart had the support of just 5% of respondents.