Former President Donald Trump said he supports the legalization of recreational marijuana, including safeguarding banks that provide services for state-authorized marijuana businesses.
“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 to adults, to safe, tested product,” Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social late Sunday.
“As a Floridian, I will be voting YES on Amendment 3 this November,” he wrote.
Florida’s Amendment 3 would allow individuals 21 and older to buy and possess marijuana for personal use.
“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,” Mr. Trump added.
The former president has said he supports marijuana for recreational use before. Late last month, he said he was and will be again “the most respected LAW & ORDER President in U.S. History.”
“In Florida, like so many other States that have already given their approval, personal amounts of marijuana will be legalized for adults with Amendment 3. Whether people like it or not, this will happen through the approval of the Voters, so it should be done correctly,” he said.
He said state legislatures need to “responsibly create laws that prohibit the use of it in public spaces, so we do not smell marijuana everywhere we go, like we do in many of the Democrat-run Cities.”
“At the same time, someone should not be a criminal in Florida, when this is legal in so many other States,” he said.
Recreational marijuana use is legal in 24 states. In Florida, so far only medical marijuana is legal, thanks to a 2016 ballot initiative.
After Mr. Trump’s August Truth Social post, the Harris campaign reportedly bashed the former president for having multiple “brazen flip-flops” on policy.
“As of this morning, Trump now suggests he is for legalizing marijuana – but as President, his own Justice Department cracked down on marijuana offenses,” Ian Sams, a Harris communications aide, said in a memo.
The Trump camp, in a statement to ABC News last month, maintained that Mr. Trump has always thought marijuana legislation should be left to the states.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.
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