Trump Administration & Their Secret War on Cannabis
Recent polls have shown that Americans are positively showing more support to the legalization of marijuana throughout the U.S. However, we cannot say the same thing about Trump’s administration.
BuzzFeed recently reported that the White House constituted a Marijuana Policy Coordination Committee, and instructed 14 federal agencies along with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to submit cannabis data “demonstrating the most negative things” and the “threats” of the drug to the U.S.
Trump showed support for new marijuana legislation to protect the state’s marijuana rights last June. For a brief moment, Trump gave people the idea he was actually in favor of the legalization in the U.S.
According to interviews and documents obtained by BuzzFeed, one of the committee's complaints is that the narrative around marijuana is biased in favor of the drug. However, instead of asking for impartial information about marijuana, they asked officials to show cannabis in a negative way, even if data portrayed it positively.
A summary of a meeting that happened with the White House alongside nine departments on July 27 says, “The prevailing marijuana narrative in the U.S. is partial, one-sided, and inaccurate. There is an urgent need to message the facts about the negative impacts of marijuana.”
The White House officials instructed department officials in a memo following the July 27 meeting saying, “Departments should provide … the most significant data demonstrating negative trends, with a statement describing the implications of such trends.”
So far, we haven't heard from Trump if he is in it or not. Even if he has shown support for creating a new bill to protect the state’s marijuana legislation, he hasn't really done anything to prove he's in favor of legalization.
According to a recent Quinnipiac University Poll, 63% American voters support the legalization of cannabis in the U.S. This was reported to be the highest percentage the poll hit.
The American voters who support the use of medical cannabis reached an impressive 93%. Moreover, 70% of the American polled oppose the implementation of federal laws against marijuana in states where either medical marijuana or recreational marijuana has been legalized.
Overall, the process to obtain a medical marijuana card and access cannabis legally is certainly getting easier for those who need it. Lots of people think that if it’s recreationally available, they won’t need to get a card. However, there are still a vast amount of benefits to getting a medical marijuana card, and moving forward, this administration is much more likely to be in favor of medical programs vs. the recreational ones.
