Gov. Ron DeSantis is skeptical about President Donald Trump’s decision to reschedule medical marijuana.
“You see these stores everywhere and I don’t necessarily think it’s a good thing, but it is what it is,” DeSantis said when asked about the President’s move.
This continues a long stretch of critical comments about cannabis from DeSantis, who warned that when voters were considering recreational legalization, it could lead to people being “able to bring 20 joints to an elementary school.”
DeSantis also said he opposed legalization for a variety of reasons, including saying while on the trail during his presidential campaign that today’s product is “too potent” and that dealers can “throw fentanyl in.”
“What I don’t like about it is if you go to some of these places that have done it, the stench when you’re out there, I mean, it smells so putrid,” he told reporters in 2022.
DeSantis was similarly critical in response to a reporter’s question in 2021.
“If you look at some of the stuff that’s now coming down, there’s a lot of really bad things in it. It’s not necessarily what you would’ve had 30 years ago when someone’s in college and they’re doing something. You have some really, really bad stuff in there,” DeSantis said.
He also has questioned the need for medical cards for many patients, such as in 2024.
“I mean, you know, they have these back ailments and like I’m not saying none of them are legit, but some of them clearly they’re doing it to get the card. Like we know that some of this goes on and yet why would we want to have more? Do you want to walk down the street here and smell it? Do you want to not be able to take your family out to dinner?”
A.G. Gancarski has been the Northeast Florida correspondent for Florida Politics since 2014. His work also can be seen in the Washington Post, the New York Post, the Washington Times, and National Review, among other publications. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter: @AGGancarski
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