In full disclosure, I would like to say that I am not a Trump fan. It’s my personal belief, and if you are a Trump fan, I respect that because we live in a democracy and citizens are by all means able to vote for whoever they want to. However, if you are a marijuana fan AND a Trump fan, I think you should be aware of some comments that Donald Trump recently made. Donald Trump has come out in the past and said that he supports states rights when it comes to marijuana. But he has also been cozying up to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who has always made it very clear that he opposes all things marijuana related.
I don’t know if Chris Christie has been advising Donald Trump on marijuana policy, or if Donald Trump forgot what he has said in the past, but regardless, Donald Trump now appears to be opposed to marijuana legalization, at least in Colorado. Per Westword:
During his town hall meeting in Wisconsin last night, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump covered a lot of ground with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews — discussing immigration, the current campaign’s lack of decorum, and then abortion…again, and again. But even with all those subjects on the table, he managed to get into Colorado’s legalization of marijuana — in the middle of a question about prison reform. Here’s MSNBC’s transcript of that Trump exchange :
QUESTION: So my question for you is around prison reform. What do you see needs to be reformed with our prison system? And with that, what do you think about drug legalization playing into the reform?
TRUMP: I think that as far as drug legalization, we talk about marijuana, and in terms of medical, I think I am basically for that. I’ve heard some wonderful things in terms of medical. I’m watching Colorado very carefully to see what’s happening out there. I’m getting some very negative reports, I’m getting some OK reports. But I’m getting some very negative reports coming out of Colorado as to what’s happening, so we’ll see what happens.
The logical questions everyone is asking is ‘what reports is Donald Trump looking at, and where are they coming from?’ If Donald Trump truly looked at the facts in Colorado, he would see that marijuana legalization is working with great success. Public resources are being saved everyday by not enforcing failed prohibition, peoples lives are not being ruined by getting stamped with the ‘marijuana scarlet letter,’ jobs are being created, the economy is benefiting, and a number of other benefits are occurring. So what is wrong? For that matter, why is Donald ‘basically’ for medical marijuana? Either he is or he isn’t.
In previous articles I have stated that I didn’t feel that Donald Trump was sincere in his comments about respecting states rights on marijuana policy. I felt that he was just talking about one side of his mouth at the time, and that there was no way to know what he truly felt about marijuana reform. I think these recent comments hammer home that point. I don’t want to tell anyone how to vote, but if you are a marijuana reform supporter and you are supporting Trump, you may want to consider what a Trump presidency would mean for marijuana reform in America, especially if Chris Christie is involved in his administration in any way.
