Donald Trump has mentioned he’ll vote to legalize private use of marijuana in his house state of Florida forward of a November vote on the difficulty.
The Republican presidential candidate wrote on his “Reality Social” platform that voters will possible approve the measure “whether or not individuals prefer it or not” and due to this fact “ought to be carried out appropriately.”
The previous US president’s stance places him at odds with different senior Republican figures, together with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who believes legalizing leisure marijuana use could be “unhealthy for high quality of life”.
In 2016, medicinal marijuana was legalized in Florida.
Marijuana for private and medical use is authorized in 24 U.S. states, in keeping with the Pew Analysis Heart. One other 14 states have legalized medical marijuana.
“Within the state of Florida, somebody shouldn’t be a prison, which is authorized in lots of different states,” Trump mentioned.
“We need not destroy lives and waste taxpayer {dollars} arresting adults for carrying private property.”
The proposal is considered one of a number of amendments Florida residents will vote on in November as the US elects a brand new president. Trump is working in opposition to present Vice President and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.
Relating to the legalization of non-public use of marijuana, Trump mentioned that there must be guidelines “to ban the usage of marijuana in public locations in order that we do not have the odor of marijuana in all places like in lots of Democratic-run cities.”
DeSantis claimed that making marijuana authorized for leisure use “would flip Florida into San Francisco or Chicago” — each Democratic-run states.
Hashish was legalized in Illinois in 2020 and gross sales exceeded $1bn (£760m) between January and July this 12 months, in keeping with state authorities statistics.
In California, the place private use of marijuana was legalized in 2016, gross sales reached $4.4 billion final 12 months.
Nonetheless, it is unclear how these numbers examine to black market marijuana gross sales, which in keeping with some are nonetheless thriving.
Authorized growers and sellers should acquire licenses and pay taxes, which might be pricey and probably make marijuana dearer.
“The black market may be very prevalent and positively bigger than the authorized market,” Invoice Jones, chief of enforcement for the California Division of Hashish Management, advised NPR earlier this 12 months.
Trump has already prompted some confusion with one other modification on Florida’s November poll. He mentioned Friday he would vote in opposition to a Florida measure This can shield abortion rights, after dealing with backlash from conservative supporters.
Florida bans abortion after six weeks of being pregnant – the modification proposes extending being pregnant to 24 weeks. Trump initially expressed help for the proposal.
His marketing campaign later claimed that he had not revealed how he would vote however that the six-week interval was “too quick.” The following day, at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Seashore, Florida, Trump mentioned he would vote “no.”
