“We’re looking at it. Some people like it. Some people hate it,” President Donald Trump said this week, answering a reporter’s question about whether the president would reclassify marijuana.
Downgrading cannabis to a less-serious drug would shake up the worlds of both popular culture and law enforcement, which has operated under the 1970 classification of cannabis as a Schedule 1 drug, on the same level as heroin and LSD.
Trump added this to his statement on reclassification, “And that determination hopefully will be the right one. It’s a very complicated subject, you know, the subject of marijuana. I’ve heard great things about medical. And I’ve heard bad things having to do with just about everything else.”
He also said he would have news on this front in a few weeks, setting off a wild reaction on social media channels.
On Facebook, Karen writes, “I’ll believe it when I see it.”
Lenny said, “This is bad. Leads to other, more addictive drug use.”
Judie said, “Big news. This could be a game changer for marijuana laws across the country.”
“It’s promising that they (the Trump administration) are still having these comments of rescheduling, but I won’t hold my breath to see if it actually, in fact, happens,” Florida Democratic Party Chair. Nikki Fried said.
If the president moves cannabis to a lesser drug class, along the lines of prescription medications, Fried said that’s still no guarantee republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis won’t mount a campaign to try and defeat a recreational marijuana amendment, if it makes it back onto the ballot next year.
“So you’re still going to have republicans who are opposed to it, not for the reality of the fact that the people of the State want it, but because there are going to be special interests that are going to line their pockets to try to take down the amendment in 2026.,” Fried said.
According to state reports from the Smart & Safe Florida political committee backing personal use of cannabis, the committee has already collected 661,327 signed petitions supporting the measure, about two-thirds of the 880,062 needed to make the ballot.
The committee has spent $14.9-million just since January, and mostly on petition gathering.
The group in June reached the petition milestone that now calls for a review by the Florida Supreme Court.
Last November, the effort to legalize recreational marijuana fell short, getting 56% support from voters, but failing to get the required 60%, despite Trulieve and other companies spending more than $150 million on the campaign.
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