President Donald Trump said during his campaign he was in favor of keeping marijuana regulation a states’ rights issue, according to a recording released Thursday by the Colorado Springs Gazette.
“For legalization, I have been in favor of states’ rights,” Trump told the Gazette’s editorial board in July 2016. “In other words, let the states work it out. I have always been a person that said, let’s see what happens in Colorado, because you’re really a great test to see what happens. And I like the idea of states making that decision.”
Trump’s remarks stand in contrast with actions his Justice Department has taken in the new year. On January 4, Attorney General Jeff Sessions ended the Obama-era policy of suspending federal prosecutions for cannabis crimes in states where pot is legal, instead giving prosecutors discretion over whether to bring charges in their jurisdictions.
“In the Controlled Substances Act, Congress has generally prohibited the cultivation, distribution, and possession of marijuana,” Sessions wrote in a memo to prosecutors. “These statutes reflect Congress’s determination that marijuana is a dangerous drug and that marijuana activity is a serious crime.”
That same day, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders seemed to indicate that Trump’s position had changed, too.
“Whether it’s marijuana or whether it’s immigration, the president strongly believes that we should enforce federal law,” Sanders said.
When asked by the Gazette whether he would order enforcement of federal marijuana law in states like Colorado, Trump said he would rather take a wait-and-see approach.
“I’ve heard mixed reports,” candidate Trump said. “I’ve heard people are going absolutely psycho, they’re getting crazy, and they are having tremendous automobile accidents, and things are happening that never happened before. Then I’m hearing from a lot of people it’s working OK.”
But at bottom, Trump said then, it’s an issue of the will of the people.
“I believe if people vote for it, that’s the way it should go,” he said. “It’s states’ rights.”
