Dear Stoner: Will Trump destroy legal weed?
Quaking
Dear Quaking: Donald Trump said a lot of things during his candidacy, but vowing to destroy legal marijuana was not one of them. Although he’s not as hip to the plant as our man Bernie was, I’d be surprised if President Donny tried to burn such a cash crop to the ground, especially with that golden goose California legalizing it recreationally in the same election. Still, during a town-hall meeting in Wisconsin in March, Trump was on the fence, saying, “I’m watching Colorado very carefully…I’m getting some very negative reports coming out of Colorado…So we’ll see what happens.”
Trump’s stances on immigration softened as his campaign went on, and I expect him to get softer on legal pot once he’s in office, too. Four states legalized recreational marijuana in the same election that he won, and Arkansas, Florida, Montana and North Dakota (all of which were red states this year) rolled back tight restrictions on medical marijuana. While recreational marijuana remains illegal in Texas, Harris County may see a major change in drug enforcement next year since the newly elected district attorney and sheriff want to stop prosecuting low-level marijuana possession cases.
As for Trump, since he’s a man who’s all about making the deal, I don’t see him putting an end to thousands of jobs and billions of consumer dollars.
This article appears in Nov 10-16, 2016.