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Former President Donald Trump says medical marijuana has been \u201cabsolutely amazing\u201d for patients, and that a Florida initiative to more broadly legalize cannabis for recreational use will be on the November ballot is \u201cgoing to be very good\u201d for the state after it passes, which he expects to happen.<\/p>\n
The 2024 Republican nominee said during an interview on Lex Fridman\u2019s podcast that was released on Tuesday that \u201cmedical marijuana has been amazing,\u201d adding that he\u2019s \u201chad friends and I\u2019ve had others and doctors telling me that it\u2019s been absolutely amazing, the medical marijuana.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump referenced a recent social media post he made about Florida\u2019s Amendment 3 ballot initiative, where he gave tacit support for the proposal. \u201cWe can live with the marijuana,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s got to be a certain age [to purchase],\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s got to be done in a very concerted, lawful way. And the way they\u2019re doing it in Florida, I think is going to be actually good. It\u2019s going to be very good, but it\u2019s got to be done in a good way. It\u2019s got to be done in a clean way.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that his campaign will be putting out an additional, \u201cmore specific\u201d statement detailing his cannabis position within the next week.<\/p>\n
Trump drew a contrast between the Florida proposal and New York\u2019s legalization law, reiterating that he doesn\u2019t feel people should be able to smoke in public. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to have a system where there\u2019s control,\u201d he said, again seemingly endorsing the concept of legalization over prohibition.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou take a look at the numbers, it\u2019s been very hard to beat it,\u201d Trump said, referencing polling for marijuana legalization ballot measures. \u201cSo I think it\u2019ll generally pass, but you want to do it in a safe way.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nThis comes days after Trump took to his social media company Truth Social, where he posted on Saturday that voters in his home state of Florida will approve the marijuana legalization initiative<\/a>, arguing that \u201csomeone should not be a criminal in Florida, when this is legal in so many other States.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump added that current policy ruins lives, wastes taxpayer dollars and puts people at risk of dying from cannabis tainted with fentanyl.<\/p>\n Speaking with Fridman, the former president was also asked about psychedelics. The host explained that he recently tried ayahuasca and \u201cthere\u2019s a lot of people that speak to sort of the health benefits and the spiritual benefits of these different psychedelics.\u201d He added that military veterans in particular have benefited from the substances in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).<\/p>\n Last month at a press conference, Trump told a reporter that he\u2019s starting to \u201cagree a lot more\u201d that people should not be criminalized over marijuana<\/a>\u00a0given that it\u2019s \u201cbeing legalized all over the country\u201d\u2014adding that he would \u201cfairly soon\u201d reveal his position on the Florida ballot measure.<\/p>\n \u201cAs we legalize it, I start to agree a lot more because, you know, it\u2019s being legalized all over the country,\u201d Trump said at the time. \u201cFlorida has something coming up. I\u2019ll be making a statement about that fairly soon.\u201d<\/p>\n A reporter had asked about the Biden-Harris administration push to reschedule cannabis, as well as Vice President Kamala Harris,\u00a0the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee<\/a>, stating repeatedly that people should not be incarcerated over simple cannabis offenses.<\/p>\n \u201cAs we legalize it throughout the country\u2014whether that\u2019s a good thing or a bad thing\u2014it\u2019s awfully hard to have people all over the jails that are in jail right now for something that\u2019s legal,\u201d Trump replied. \u201cSo I think obviously there\u2019s a lot of sentiment to doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n Following Trump\u2019s recent announcement of support for the Florida cannabis legalization ballot measure, the campaign for Harris is working to remind voters that while in office, Trump \u201ctook marijuana reform backwards.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n In a memo from a senior campaign spokesperson, the Harris campaign accused Trump of \u201cbrazen flip flops\u201d on cannabis. The Democratic campaign says it\u2019s one of the Republican former president\u2019s \u201cseveral bewildering \u2018policy proposals\u2019 that deserve real scrutiny.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOn issue after issue, Trump is saying one thing after having done another,\u201d the memo says. \u201cFor example: As a candidate in 2024, he suggests he is for decriminalizing marijuana \u2013 but as President, his own Justice Department cracked down on marijuana offenses.\u201d<\/p>\n The claim appears to be a reference to the\u00a0move by Trump-era Attorney General Jeff Sessions to rescind the so-called Cole memo<\/a>, which provided guidance to federal prosecutors not to interfere with operations of well regulated state marijuana systems.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, longtime ally and GOP political operative Roger Stone, who is also a Florida resident and supports the legalization proposal, separately told Marijuana Moment that if Trump did ultimately endorse the measure it would \u201cguarantee victory.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), who is sponsoring a bill to federally legalize marijuana called the States Reform Act, separately said that while\u00a0she hopes Trump will back the Biden administration\u2019s rescheduling move<\/a>, she also said part of the reason Republicans in Congress have declined to embrace marijuana policy change is because they\u2019re \u201cafraid of it.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump also recently\u00a0went after Harris over her prosecutorial record on marijuana<\/a>, claiming that she put \u201cthousands and thousands of Black people in jail\u201d for cannabis offenses\u2014but the full record of her time in office is more nuanced.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s line of attack, while misleading, was nonetheless notable in the sense that the GOP presidential nominee implied that he disagrees with criminalizing people over marijuana and is moving to leverage the idea that Harris played a role in racially disproportionate mass incarceration.<\/p>\n Meanwhile,\u00a0Harris selected Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) as her running mate<\/a>, choosing a candidate who backed numerous cannabis reform measures in Congress, called for an end to prohibition when he was running for governor and then signed a comprehensive legalization bill into law in 2023.<\/p>\n As president, Trump largely stayed true to his position that marijuana laws should be handled at the state-level, with no major crackdown on cannabis programs as some feared after then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded the Obama era federal enforcement guidance. In fact, Trump\u00a0criticized the top DOJ official and suggested the move should be reversed<\/a>.<\/p>\n While he was largely silent on the issue of legalization, he did tentatively endorse a bipartisan bill to\u00a0codify federal policy respecting states\u2019 rights to legalize<\/a>.<\/p>\n That said, on several occasions he released signing statements on spending legislation stipulating that he\u00a0reserved the right to ignore a long-standing rider<\/a>\u00a0that prohibits the Justice Department from\u00a0using its funds to interfere with state-legal medical marijuana programs<\/a>.<\/p>\n Before President Joe Biden bowed out of the race, his campaign made much of the president\u2019s mass cannabis pardons and rescheduling push,\u00a0drawing a contrast with the Trump administration\u2019s record<\/a>. The Harris campaign so far has not spoken to that particular issue, and the nominee has yet to publicly discuss marijuana policy issues since her own campaign launched.<\/p>\n \u2014 Back in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has\u00a0doubled down on his opposition campaign against the marijuana legalization initiative<\/a>\u00a0that will appear on the state\u2019s November ballot.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, a Democratic congresswoman who recently said she was\u00a0on the fence about whether she\u2019d vote for the legalization ballot initiative<\/a>\u00a0this November\u00a0has officially given the measure her endorsement<\/a>.<\/p>\n There\u2019s been a mixed bag of feedback on Amendment 3 from members of Florida\u2019s congressional delegation.<\/p>\n One pro-legalization GOP congressman, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), recently said he intends to vote against it,\u00a0strictly because he feels the reform should be enacted statutorily<\/a>, rather than as a constitutional amendment that would prove more challenging to amend.<\/p>\n On the other hand, Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL), co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus,\u00a0predicted earlier this year that the measure will pass<\/a>.<\/p>\n Volkswagen Launches Project To Use Hemp As A Sustainable Leather Alternative For Its Car Interiors<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post Trump Says Florida Marijuana Legalization Ballot Measure Will Be \u2018Very Good\u2019 For The State, Adding That Medical Use Is \u2018Absolutely Amazing\u2019 For Patients<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Former President Donald Trump says medical marijuana has been \u201cabsolutely amazing\u201d for patients, and that a Florida initiative to more broadly legalize cannabis for recreational use will be on the November ballot is \u201cgoing to be very good\u201d for the state after it passes, which he expects to happen. TheContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":77708,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81,126],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77707"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77707"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77707\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77709,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77707\/revisions\/77709"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: Trump Says Florida Marijuana Legalization Ballot Measure Will Be \u2018Very Good\u2019 For The State, Adding That Medical Use Is \u2018Absolutely Amazing\u2019 For Patients<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"