Trump signals openness to decriminalizing marijuana

Former President Donald Trump recently hinted that he was open to reviewing federal marijuana policy and questioned the merits of keeping people incarcerated for an offense that is now legal.

“As we legalize it, I start to agree a lot more because, you know, it’s being legalized all over the country,” Trump said during a press conference last week, according to Forbes. “Florida has something coming up. I’ll be making a statement about that fairly soon.”

Trump's statement came in response to a reporter asking him about the Biden administration's attempt to reclassify marijuana under federal law.

“As we legalize it throughout the country—whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing—it’s awfully hard to have people all over the jails that are in jail right now for something that’s legal,” Trump also said. “So, I think obviously there’s a lot of sentiment to doing that.”

Polling data has suggested that American are increasingly receptive to legalizing marijuana.

An August poll, conducted by The Tarrance Group, showed that 79% of voters in Pennsylvania think that medical marijuana should be legal while 58% believe that recreational marijuana should be legal. 

Among 18-to-44-year-old Pennsylvania voters, 74% of them say they want recreational marijuana legalized.