President Trump’s Marijuana Grade

If grading President Trump strictly in regards to marijuana and marijuana laws, what score would he get? Here we give our take.

Say what you will about President Trump – and most people would happily do so all day if asked, whether they support or oppose him – he’s made moves that have surprised many supporters of marijuana law reform, while simultaneously giving mixed messages on the issue.

Below we list the pros and  cons of Trump’s presidency as it relates to marijuana, and then give him a final grade (again, strictly on this subject).

Pros:

• Earlier this year Trump teamed with Senator Cory Gardner (R) in announcing that he supports state rights when it comes to marijuana legalization laws, and said he will support future legislation to change the law to ensure that the feds won’t interfere with state marijuana laws. In doing so, Trump went beyond recent presidents in supporting the marijuana reform movement (in fact, both Presidents Bush and Obama spent vast amount of resources raiding state-legal medical marijuana dispensaries).
• Trump has stated on numerous occasions, including during his presidential campaign, that he’s “100%” in support of medical marijuana. This isn’t the same for recreational marijuana, but is still a positive.
• For the most part, Trump has avoided the anti-marijuana rhetoric perpetuated by many Republican lawmakers. It’s hard to list not doing something ridiculous as a pro, but given the landscape we will.

 

Cons:

• Trump chose then-Senator Jeff Sessions as his attorney general. Sessions is known for spending decades opposing marijuana and any liberalization of the laws surrounding it, and has actively pushed for an expansion of the war on drugs. If it wasn’t for the Sessions  pick, Trump’s grade would be considerably higher.
• Other than the Gardner deal, Trump has done nothing to actively support a reformation of marijuana laws – and even the Gardner deal was done in large part because he was blocking nominations to the Department of Justice.

 

President Trump’s Marijuana Grade:

C-

Summation:

President Trump is far from a president that has embraced marijuana law reform, and in fact has made many detrimental moves, particularly through the choice of Jeff Sessions as attorney general. However, he’s also done little to actively harm the current situation, and in some regards has done more to support the movement – and less to oppose it – than President Obama. With this in mind, we give him a C-, meaning that although he has a huge amount of room for improvement, he’s thus far not failing… but barely.