Trump says he will vote to legalize adult recreational marijuana use in Florida
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(CNN) — Former President Donald Trump said Sunday he will vote for a ballot measure in Florida that would legalize adult recreational marijuana use – a position that puts him at odds with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and other Republican leaders in the state.
“As I have previously stated, I believe it is time to end needless arrests and incarcerations of adults for small amounts of marijuana for personal use. We must also implement smart regulations, while providing access for adults, to safe, tested product. As a Floridian, I will be voting YES on Amendment 3 this November,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
Trump continued, “As President, we will continue to focus on research to unlock the medical uses of marijuana to a Schedule 3 drug, and work with Congress to pass common sense laws, including safe banking for state authorized companies, and supporting states rights to pass marijuana laws, like in Florida, that work so well for their citizens.”
The decision is in line with the criminal justice reform he signed into law as president, though Trump has also made being seen as tough on crime central to his political identity. Trump is taking a position largely popular with Americans, even as members of his own party have opposed it.
It’s a rare area of agreement between Trump and his opponent in November. Vice President Kamala Harris has supported efforts by the Biden administration to pardon people convicted of having small amounts of marijuana and the effort to reclassify the drug in federal law to a lower level. Harris has her own political liabilities around crime, having been criticized for prosecuting people for possessing small amounts of drugs during her time as a prosecutor.
Trump previously said in a post that he thought the ballot initiative in Florida would pass “whether people like it or not,” and that he thought adults in Florida shouldn’t be arrested for having “personal amounts” of marijuana. He also called for the Florida legislature to create laws that prohibit recreational marijuana use in public spaces.
Trump’s pledge to “unlock the medical uses of marijuana to a Schedule 3 drug” comes after he praised medical marijuana on the Lex Fridman Podcast last week.
The ballot initiative, which would require 60% of the vote to pass, “Allows adults 21 years or older to possess, purchase, or use marijuana products and marijuana accessories for non-medical personal consumption by smoking, ingestion, or otherwise,” according to the text of the measure. It also “allows Medical Marijuana Treatment Centers, and other state licensed entities, to acquire, cultivate, process, manufacture, sell, and distribute such products and accessories.”
DeSantis, who ran against Trump in the GOP presidential primary but then endorsed the former president when he suspended his campaign, has bashed the ballot initiative as “radical” and said earlier this year if it passed, “This state will start to smell like marijuana in our cities and towns.”
The Florida GOP declared its opposition to the ballot initiative in May, and the Republican Party of Florida’s executive board unanimously passed a resolution opposing it. Florida GOP Chairman Evan Power released a statement saying this amendment, as well as a separate abortion amendment, “are unnecessary attempts by an increasingly shrinking minority who know the only way to win support for their radical agenda is to confuse and mislead the electorate.”