Thursday, September 5, 2024

Does former Prez Trump's praise for medical marijuana suggest he would robustly support federal marijuana rescheduling?

I flagged here the notable social media comments from former Prez Donald Trump over the weekend which suggested he is supportive of marijuana legalization in Florida and elsewhere. But I just recently saw some notable follow-up comments about medical marijuana that Trump made during an interview on Lex Fridman’s podcast released earlier this week. This Marijuana Moment piece reports on the comments this way:

Former President Donald Trump says medical marijuana has been “absolutely amazing” for patients, and that a Florida initiative to more broadly legalize cannabis for recreational use will be on the November ballot is “going to be very good” for the state after it passes, which he expects to happen.

The 2024 Republican nominee said during an interview on Lex Fridman’s podcast that was released on Tuesday that “medical marijuana has been amazing,” adding that he’s “had friends and I’ve had others and doctors telling me that it’s been absolutely amazing, the medical marijuana.”

Trump referenced a recent social media post he made about Florida’s Amendment 3 ballot initiative, where he gave tacit support for the proposal. “We can live with the marijuana,” he said.

“It’s got to be a certain age [to purchase],” he said. “It’s got to be done in a very concerted, lawful way. And the way they’re doing it in Florida, I think is going to be actually good. It’s going to be very good, but it’s got to be done in a good way. It’s got to be done in a clean way.” He added that his campaign will be putting out an additional, “more specific” statement detailing his cannabis position within the next week.

I will be eager to see what kind of more specific statement concerning cannabis policy comes from the Trump campaign, and I sincerely hope it will address federal law and on-going efforts to reschedule marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act.  But if Trump is of the view that  medical marijuana is "absolutely amazing," I would think Trump's position of federal rescheduling would be absolutely positive.  After all, marijuana's current status as a Schedule I drug means that is has no accepted medical use, and it seems Trump has heard from friends and others and doctors that marijuana has been amazing as a medicine.   And only be moving marijuana to Schedule III are we likely to have medical marijuana access by patients and robust medical marijuana research "done in a very concerted, lawful way."

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/marijuana_law/2024/09/does-former-prez-trumps-praise-for-medical-marijuana-suggest-he-would-robustly-support-federal-marij.html

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