DeSantis: Cannabis Decriminalization Is Not On My Agenda If Elected US President

Florida Governor and Republican candidate for president Ron DeSantis confirmed Thursday he doesn’t support the national decriminalization of cannabis.

What Happened: During a presidential campaign event in Augusta, South Carolina, a voter asked DeSantis in the name of injured veterans to “please decriminalize marijuana in 2025,” reported Business Insider.

"I don't think we would do that," DeSantis responded. "But what I have done in Florida is we have a medical program through our Constitution that the voters did. Veterans in those situations in Florida are actually allowed access — it's very controversial because obviously there are some people that abuse it and are using it recreationally."

While previously DeSantis’ stance on marijuana wasn’t perfectly clear as he pushed for lifting a state ban on the smokable form of medical marijuana in 2019 when he became governor, now it seems there’s no doubt about what he will do on the cannabis front if he becomes president.

See Also: Who Is Standing In The Way Of Marijuana Legalization? GOP Support For Cannabis Growing Though Slowly

Why Is DeSantis Against Cannabis Decriminalization?

During the event, DeSantis further said that marijuana has become more potent than it was decades ago, and that, in general, the country should be focused on keeping children “clear of drugs.”

"We have too many people using drugs in this country right now," DeSantis said. "I think it hurts our workforce readiness, I think it hurts people's ability to prosper in life."

There are several studies, however, that confirm how cannabis legalization doesn’t increase youth usage rates. For example, a 2021 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association concluded “Consistent with estimates from prior studies, there was little evidence that [recreational marijuana laws] or [medical marijuana laws] encourage youth marijuana use.”

DeSantis further concentrated on the U.S. opioid crisis, saying that it happens that people think they're consuming one substance like illegal marijuana, and then realize that it’s been laced with deadly fentanyl. On this point as well, a NIDA-backed study recently revealed that marijuana-legal states are seeing a decrease in demand for at least one dangerous opioid codeine.

What’s more, a growing body of authoritative studies has revealed the potential of medical cannabis as a much-needed alternative for treating chronic pain. One such study from Canada, published in May 2021 in the journal BMC Public Health, showed that permission to use medical cannabis to treat chronic pain led to a reduction in opioid use.

It is also important to note that most marijuana experts agree that cannabis legalization helps minimize the risk of taking cannabis that’s laced with fentanyl, because of the regulations which require test and safety control.

See Also: Florida Cannabis Activists Gather Enough Signatures To Put Legalization On 2024 Ballot

Photo: Benzinga edit with images by Wikimedia Commons and Kindel Media on Pexels