Donald Trump softens stand on Marijuana Legalization

Posted by Sagar Satapathy on October 31, 2015.

After facing the heat in some primaries during the Presidential Polls campaign, Republican aspirant Donald Trump has softened his stand on the issue of legalization of marijuana and clarified that states should be allowed to legalize marijuana if they chose to do so. Trump also assured his support to use of medical marijuana, saying the rights of patients cannot be taken away.

During the CPAC Conference in June 2015, Trump had backed use of medical marijuana, but firmly opposed legalization of pot. He was critical of Colorado's legalization and said, it was a bad move. He went to the extent of saying that Colorado was facing a lot of problems after he allowed the recreational use of pot.

However, while speaking a political rally at a casino outside Reno in Nevada, Trump toned down his aggression. "Marijuana and its legalization remain a state issue. It can vary state-by-state," he said. It is believed that Trump's change in stand was due to the pro-marijuana approach adopted by Democrat aspirant Bernie Sanders, who had vowed to remove marijuana from the federal government's list of most dangerous outlawed drugs.

Trump has a history of taking different stands on drugs. In April 1990, he had asked the United States to legalize drugs and use the money collected to educate the public on the dangers of drug use. "Legalize the drugs, make profit, and then spread the awareness to win the war on drugs," was his motto.

Although several U.S. states have legalized medical marijuana as well as recreational marijuana, the drug still remains banned under federal law.

comments powered by Disqus