Former President Donald Trump dominates the news 24/7, including sleepy Saturday over Labor Day weekend.
While many of our readers were eating their breakfast, the Republican presidential candidate broke with Governor Ron DeSantis and other Florida leaders to support the “Adult Personal Use of Marijuana” citizen initiative that would legalize recreational use, as seen in Trump's home state of New York and other states.
“In the state of Florida, like many other states that have already done so, the Third Amendment will legalize marijuana for personal use by adults. Whether people like it or not, this is done by voter approval, so it has to be done right,” Trump said.
“We need state legislatures to be responsible and enact laws banning use in public places so you don't smell marijuana everywhere you go, like in so many Democrat-run cities. At the same time, you shouldn't be a criminal in Florida when it's legal in so many other states. Adults shouldn't have to be arrested for possession of personal amounts of marijuana, ruining people's lives, wasting taxpayer money, and mourning loved ones who die from fentanyl-laced marijuana,” Trump added.
Trump's position is not entirely surprising.
He alluded to just this at a press conference at Mar-a-Lago a few weeks ago.
“As legalization progresses, I'm more and more in favor of it, because it's legal across the country,” Trump said. “Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, it's very hard to have people in prison right now for something that's legal.”
That position, as Washington Post readers already know, is in line with Florida voters who prefer marijuana legalization to either Trump or his opponent, Kamala Harris.
A recent University of North Florida poll showed Trump leading Harris in the state, 49% to 42%, but while Trump doesn't have even a majority, marijuana has near-majority support, with 64% of all voters in favor of legal marijuana, including 50% of Republicans.
Trump's stance on marijuana came a day after he declared his opposition to a proposed amendment that would limit government interference with abortion, which would remove restrictions on abortion (Florida bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, with limited exceptions). Trump doesn't like the six-week ban, but he also opposes later-term abortions, such as those legal in other states.
While Trump's position on the abortion amendment is likely to reassure the state's Republican elected leaders, his position on marijuana has put him at odds with Governor DeSantis, who has said that if marijuana were legalized, people would be able to carry “80 joints” at one time and “bring 20 joints to an elementary school.”
But if Florida's amendment passes, it could legally regulate smoking in public places, as President Trump has pointed out.
It will be instructive to see whether this benefits Trump beyond Florida.
Polls circulating show an ongoing battle between Harris and Trump in battleground states that have already legalized marijuana.
The irony of Trump's reassessment of his stance on marijuana is that it places him further to the left than the Biden administration, which is wavering over regulatory changes the president promised during the 2020 campaign. The Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Administration are scheduled to hold hearings in December on the possible change to Schedule III, according to the Federal Register.
President Trump has been silent on changing marijuana regulations, and his administration has not taken any action on the matter during his presidency. In fact, President Trump's final budget proposed removing protections for medical marijuana users. However, the 2018 Farm Bill that President Trump signed allowed hemp to be synthesized to produce THC and other addictive compounds. One would have expected that this loophole would have been closed by now, but it has not happened yet.
Marijuana probably won't be a deciding factor in the 2024 election, but Trump's preference for pragmatism over partisan bickering on the future of marijuana may resonate especially with younger voters, perhaps offsetting Harris' gains in recent weeks.
That is, whether he's willing to promote it beyond the isolation of the Sunshine State.
