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Trump Will Tackle Cannabis Reform After Midterms, Says Republican Congressman
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Trump has previously voiced support for medical marijuana and states’ rights to legalize pot, but actions will speak louder than words.
Published on October 12, 2018

Photo via Gage Skidmore

After nearly two years in the Oval Office, one federal lawmaker says President Donald Trump is gearing up to address America’s complicated relationship with cannabis.

According to Marijuana Moment, Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher told reporters at Fox Business this week that Trump has plans to address cannabis reform over coming months after the dust has settled from November’s impending midterm elections. 

“I have been talking to people inside the White House who know and inside the president’s entourage... I have talked to them at length,” Rep. Rohrabacher told Fox Business. “I have been reassured that the president intends on keeping his campaign promise.”

While running for office in 2016, Trump spoke publicly about his support for medical marijuana, noting that he has known people who’ve benefited from the all-natural treatment, and earlier this year, he indicated that he would back the STATES Act — legislation currently proposed in Congress that would protect states’ right to legalize the plant for adult use and sales.

In his interview with Fox, Rohrabacher said that he had been “reassured that the president intends on keeping his campaign promise” when it comes to cannabis.

Rohrabacher, who represents Orange County, one of California’s few conservative bastions, has made a name for himself as one of the GOP’s most ardent supporters of marijuana legalization, but has mostly remained on the right side of the aisle on other issues. Currently in the middle of a heated midterm campaign against Democratic challenger Harley Rouda, Rohrabacher has recently come under fire for his connections to Russia and his voting record on healthcare. 

But even as the Republican congressman successfully piques the nation’s interest with possibilities of federal cannabis reform, when it comes to marijuana and other drugs, Trump’s track record over the past two years has been disappointing.

Facing the deadliest narcotics epidemic in the country’s history as citizens grapple with opioid addiction, Trump has regurgitated Nancy Reagan’s once-popular “Just Say No” propaganda, repeatedly failed to take science-based approaches to drug abuse and dependence, blamed Latinx immigrants for America’s opioid problem, and secretly formed a policy committee that’s adopting some problematic views on pot.

It’s not yet clear exactly what types of pro-cannabis actions Rohrabacher expects Trump to make, but the Republican legislator predicts that changes will be set in motion soon.

“I would expect after the election we will sit down and we’ll start hammering out something that is specific and real,” Rohrabacher told Fox Business. “It could be as early as spring of 2019, but definitely in the next legislative session.”

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Zach Harris
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Zach Harris is a writer based in Philadelphia whose work has appeared on Noisey, First We Feast, and Jenkem Magazine. You can find him on Twitter @10000youtubes complaining about NBA referees.
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