Former President Donald Trump announced that he will vote yes in Florida on a ballot initiative to legalize marijuana. This is his most clear stance on the subject.
The former president said in a late-night post on the Truth Social platform that it was time to stop arresting and imprisoning adults for small amounts of marijuana used for personal purposes.
He said, “We also need to implement smart regulations while providing adults with access to tested, safe products.” “As a Floridian, I will vote YES in November on Amendment 3.”
Trump stated that his administration, if elected, “will continue to work on research to unlock the medical benefits of marijuana as a Schedule 3 Drug, and will work with Congress to adopt common sense laws including safe banking for companies authorized by state laws and support states’ rights to pass laws like those that Florida has that are so successful for its citizens.”
Trump stated last month that the ballot measure would pass. He also called on Florida legislators to pass legislation prohibiting the use of marijuana within public areas. He claimed that arrests of marijuana users for “personal amounts” were a waste of taxpayers’ money and that the ballot measure could help to prevent deaths caused by fentanyl-laced pot.
The ballot measure, if passed, would allow residents older than 21 to buy, possess, or use marijuana recreationally. Florida already allows medical marijuana.
Trump’s support of the ballot measure is his clearest statement on marijuana legalization, and it puts him at odds against other Republicans. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is against the marijuana ballot measure, and in recent years most Republicans in Congress have voted against reforming U.S. marijuana policy.
When pressed about the issue, the former president has given mixed messages in the past. Trump stated that he supported cannabis for medicinal use and that further research on the health benefits of cannabis should be conducted during his 2016 presidential election campaign. He has repeatedly said that it is up to each state whether or not they want to legalize cannabis.
In an interview last year with Newsmax TV, Trump acknowledged the fact that marijuana legalization was a “pretty common thing” among voters. However, he expressed doubts about marijuana’s effectiveness as a therapeutic tool.
The Trump administration has taken several actions to combat recreational marijuana use and possession. This includes reversing a policy from the Obama era that instructed federal prosecutors not to pursue marijuana-related crimes in states where marijuana was legalized.
Last month, Trump seemed to indicate some support for a ballot measure in Florida that would increase abortion access. He said that the six-week state ban was “too little” and that he “would vote that we needed more than six weeks.”
A day later, after backlash from conservatives, Trump clarified that he would vote no on the ballot measure. Trump, who reiterated his position that women should have “more time” to decide on whether or not to get an abortion than the six weeks allowed by law, said in an interview with Fox News that he could not support the amendment as “Democrats are extremists.”
Florida’s amendment will prohibit restrictions on abortions before fetal viability around the 24th week of pregnancy. However, it will also allow exceptions for the health of the mother.
The Trump administration just committed nearly a billion dollars to keeping America's lights on, and…
Two radical nonprofits tied to Marxist tech millionaire Neville Roy Singham just told Congress exactly…
Eric Flores isn't another politician talking about the border from behind a desk in Washington.…
The Supreme Court made the right call Thursday when it blocked a lower court judge…
Josef Marris thought he was fighting fascism. Instead, he's facing criminal charges and a pink…
There's something almost theatrical about watching Donald Trump work a rally crowd, and Thursday night…