PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — The Trump administration’s anti-marijuana move has some members of the president’s voting base fuming. Fans of President Donald Trump who use marijuana say Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ move to tighten federal oversight of the drug is the first time they’ve felt let down by the man they helped elect. The move feels especially punitive to Trump voters who work in the growing industry around legalized marijuana that has taken root in states of all political stripes.
It remains to be seen whether Trump’s pot-loving voters will take their anger to the ballot box in 2018 and 2020. But pro-legalization conservatives are also chiding the administration’s anti-pot move as an affront to personal liberties and states’ rights.
“Trump needs to realize that a lot of his supporters are pro-cannabis and it would be extremely hurtful to them if he allowed Sessions to move forward with this,” said Damara Kelso, a Trump voter who runs Sugar Shack Farms, a marijuana grower in Eugene, Oregon. “It’s not lazy pothead stoners smoking weed all day in their parents’ basement.”
Sessions’ move allows federal prosecutors to decide what to do when state rules conflict with federal. It comes as legalization of marijuana is at an all-time high in popularity with Republicans. A Gallup poll from last year found 51 percent of Republicans expressed support for legalization of the drug. It was the first time a majority of GOP supporters supported the idea and represented a jump of 9 percentage points from the previous year. In the early 2000s, only about one in five Republicans agreed with legalization.
Legalization has also flourished at the state level. Maine, Nevada, Massachusetts and California all voted to make recreational marijuana use legal for adults in 2016. It is also legal in Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Alaska and Washington, D.C. Alaska and Maine gave Trump electoral votes in 2016.
Marijuana legalization is typically most popular with the libertarian-leaning wing of the Republican Party. But any such Republicans who felt Trump would be a pro-marijuana president were misguided, said Jeffrey Miron, a Harvard University economist who studies the economics of libertarianism with a focus on illegal drugs.
Weed-loving Trump fans might be experiencing buyer’s remorse, but it’s too early to say whether that could make a difference at the voting polls, Miron said. “Libertarians certainly knew when he appointed Jeff Sessions that there was a serious risk in an escalation of the war on drugs,” he said. “I think you get what you pay for.”
Still, some of Trump’s high-profile supporters are criticizing the move. Roger Stone, a former Trump campaign adviser with whom the president has a long and rocky history, shared a video on Facebook on Jan. 7 urging Trump to support legalization and block Sessions’ move. And some Republicans in Congress have also slammed the decision.
“We have a Constitution to protect people from the federal government,” Republican Rep. Jason Lewis, R-Minnesota, a Trump voter, said in an interview. “This is a longstanding limited-government principle.”
Trump fans who use medical marijuana are also concerned they could lose access to treatment. In rural Fryeburg, Maine, college student Zac Mercauto drives two hours roundtrip, he said, to buy marijuana to manage chronic pain and other health problems. He said he would hate to lose that ability to federal politics.
Mercauto is also one of thousands of Mainers who helped give Trump his sole New England electoral vote. Unlike most states, Maine splits its electoral votes by congressional district, and Trump won the vast 2nd District, home to both New England conservatism and a marijuana culture.
Mercauto, who had his picture taken with Trump in 2016, said he is still a big fan of the president. But he believes the anti-pot move is bad for his state’s economy and health. “I believe it’s going to take a hit at medical marijuana and the industry as a whole here in Maine,” he said. “It’s disappointing to see him take that stab at the industry. And I guarantee you all the tax money the state of Maine from medical marijuana really helps people all around.”
Buyers remorse? You bought it, now live with it. You were warned, but your stupidity outweighed what you could afford. You put us ALL in debt, AGAIN, and deprived us once again of our Bill of Rights.
I think every one of you need to return the merchandise in the name of every American National that did not participate in the FRAUD.
” Fans of President Donald Trump who use marijuana say Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ move to tighten federal oversight of the drug is the first time they’ve felt let down by the man they helped elect.”
They are documented retards as they state, “the first time they’ve felt let down by the man they helped elect.”
REAL hearings by the illegitimate trolls in the Fed gubermint needs to take place out in the open and scientific reality needs to be shoved into this “Reefer Madness” mentality in the public discourse. The first step is to STOP referring to cannabis as “Marijuana”. The next step is to completely remove ANY REFERENCE TO cannabis from ANY Fed documents and just leave it alone, as it was for thousands of years. If the States want to legislate it, then the State Governors and legislators can be held accountable to the people; to a much greater degree than the turds in D.C. ever will be, until we take back our Republic.
The state cannot legislate in reference to cannabis or any other drug in reference to possession or use by any American national. They simply do not have the authority.
What CAN they legislate? I thought the issue was that everything not specifically allowed to the Fed Gov (not that we have one, but the original intent) was left to the States or the People? Perhaps I have comprehended the situation incorrectly. What is the appropriate level of authority that the States (again, not that what we are dealing with are not CORPORATE entities), but what place do States (the real things) hold with regard to legislating anything? Obviously there have been legislatorial bodies in all the original Republics – what sort of authority are they supposed to have?
Certainly there must be some type of legislatin’ that they can do, or why go through the exercise of even putting a State government in place?
I’d love to hear you address this today – currently I have no Star Trek communicator, or I’d call in and ask in person.
Suffice it for this one point: I recognize that neither State nor Fed can lawfully usurp our Bill of Rights, but my point was to get Federal out of the cannabis issue completely. Since we have been almost entirely usurped already, getting that big smelly pile o’ shite out of the issue seemed to me a good start, particularly since the people themselves appear to be shedding the “Reefer Madness” mindset already.
Hell naw, that Trump can’t steal ma breakfast. You trannchies is good. Smart and know Trump da problem.
Wait until he finds out his son is bonging out in the Lincoln bedroom and banging the illegal workers from the house chef.
Sht is gonna fly.
Oh….oh…oh…
I just passed a new executive order…
My son can smoke weed and bang the hired help.
Because. … he’s special. …and your knot.
“It remains to be seen whether Trump’s pot-loving voters will take their anger to the ballot box in 2018 and 2020.”
Most of them will likely be dead by then.
From terminal STUPIDITY.
Can’t our non-med marijuana States pass a referendum-a reeferendum?