Joe Biden Says He “Knows A Lot Of Weed Smokers” But Still Doesn’t Support Legalization

Photo via

Former Vice President Joe Biden spent the long holiday weekend apologizing, after a contentious interview on the syndicated morning radio show “The Breakfast Club” ended with the presidential candidate telling listeners, “If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black.”

But while Biden’s comments on race and voting have garnered the most attention from the Democratic leader’s 18-minute radio interview, “Breakfast Club” host Charlamagne tha God also pressed Biden on his stance about cannabis legalization. Responding to questions about his record and policy opinions on criminal justice, Biden broadly decreed that “no one should be going to jail for drug crime, period,” particularly cannabis crimes. But when pushed to explain his support for marijuana decriminalization but opposition to full-scale legalization, Biden once again tripped over his words.

“Because they’re trying to find out whether or not there is any impact on the use of marijuana — not in leading you to other drugs. But does it affect long-term development of the brain?,” Biden said as his anti-legalization justification. “And we should wait until the studies are done. I think science matters.”

Immediately, Charlamagne fired back, “I think we got decades and decades and studies from actual weed smokers, though.”

“Yeah, I do. I know a lot of weed smokers,” Biden then replied with a wide grin on his face.

It is not exactly clear what he meant or who he was talking about when Biden said “I know a lot of weed smokers,” but taken in context, we can’t imagine Biden thinks very highly of his cannabis user acquaintances. If he agrees with Charlamagne that there is plenty of experiential data from “actual weed smokers,” then his stance against legalization must indicate that Biden thinks of weed smokers — including the one he claims to personally know — in a negative light.

Like most of Biden’s public comments these days, it may take some mental gymnastics to sort out what the presidential nominee was really trying to articulate in his recent comments about cannabis. But Biden certainly made one thing abundantly clear — even though he claims to have personal relationships with cannabis users, Joe Biden still does not support marijuana legalization.