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A GOP congressman running for governor in Florida who has opposed marijuana legalization in the state and sponsored federal legislation to upend a Washington, D.C. sentencing reform law has admitted for the first time that he was arrested for selling cannabis as a young adult.
Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), a Trump-endorsed GOP candidate vying to replace Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), was pressed on the apparent disconnect during an interview with CBS Miami that aired on Saturday.
While it was previously known that Donalds faced an arrest over marijuana in 1997—only to have the charges dropped years later as part of a pre-trial diversion program—this marked the first time he’s publicly admitted to selling small amounts of cannabis and acknowledged that he benefitted from the type of criminal justice reform law he’s worked to undermine in the District of Columbia.
“Honestly, I was walking down the street, I was leaving a party, officers came up, asked me if I would empty my pockets. I said, ‘Yes, of course.’ I had a dime bag of marijuana in my pocket. That’s the story,” the congressman said. “It was bad decisions. I can’t undo that decision.”
Donalds said he sold “low-level amounts” of marijuana, reiterating that he made “terrible decisions” and that it was among the things he did in his early adulthood that he wishes he could “undo.”
“I wish I could undo [it]. I wish I could, but I can’t do that,” he said. “I would tell people, if you examine my life since 20 years old, my life has really been a story of redemption.”
But that redemption arc was made possible, in part, thanks to sentencing policy that afforded Donalds a level of relief that he’s sought to deprive D.C. residents of—a point that Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) raised during a House floor debate last year where she slammed her GOP colleague over the apparent double standard.
“Imagine standing in front of a judge with your life hanging in balance, and instead of prison you’re given a promise of mercy. Your record is wiped clean, and you’ve got a second chance at life,” Crockett said. “Imagine turning that into a promotion and you go to college and get a job and even become a member of Congress. That’s what redemption looks like.”
“That’s what America is supposed to be about. And that is exactly the story of the next wannabe governor from Florida, as a young man, he went through,” she said, referring to Donalds.
Donalds, who also took a stand against a Florida marijuana legalization ballot initiative in 2024 and argued the issue should be up to the legislature to decide, said during his latest interview that he will “never say that the decisions I made when I was very young were right decisions or smart decisions.”
“They were terrible decisions—desperate decisions—but in Florida, I had to face the music as an adult. In D.C., they were letting 20 or four year olds be tried as juveniles. That’s not right,” he said. “In Florida, I had to face the music as an adult, not as a juvenile. Now, Florida does have laws around diversion—being able to seal records—and yes, those were things that were afforded to me. And I look back on those days and I say, ‘You know what? That helped me restart my life. So be it.’ But in D.C., it was very different.”
Donalds has also raised eyebrows after acknowledging that there’s “a trace of racism” in marijuana enforcement, while still maintaining that advocates have gone too far in their pursuit of scaling back harsh sentencing laws.
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The congressman’s overall record on reform legislation is somewhat mixed.
For example, he’s voted in favor of marijuana banking legislation, as well as a bill to reduce restrictions on carrying out cannabis research. The congressman is also a cosponsor of a bill to protect gun rights for medical cannabis patients this session, and he’s twice cosponsored legislation to automatically seal criminal records for people convicted of non-violent marijuana offenses.
While he experienced a cannabis arrest himself, Donalds also voted against an amendment to prevent people from being denied security clearances over prior marijuana use—even though he’s able to receive classified briefings as a member of Congress regardless of his own history with cannabis. The congressman additionally voted against a bill to legalize marijuana in 2022.
Kyle Jaeger is Marijuana Moment’s Sacramento-based managing editor. He’s covered drug policy for more than a decade—specializing in state and federal marijuana and psychedelics issues at publications that also include High Times, VICE and attn. In 2022, Jaeger was named Benzinga’s Cannabis Policy Reporter of the Year.
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