What Trump said about marijuana enforcement while campaigning in Colorado
Published: Jan 19, 2018, 8:13 am • Updated: Jan 19, 2018, 8:16 am
By Vince Bzdek, The Gazette
Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ recent decision to clear the way for possible enforcement of federal laws that outlaw marijuana contradicts what Donald Trump told The Colorado Springs Gazette during his presidential campaign.
During a conversation with The Gazette’s editorial board in July 2016, Trump, then the GOP nominee, repeatedly pledged that he would respect states’ legalization laws and take a wait-and-see approach to enforcing federal law.
Asked directly by editorial page editor Wayne Laugesen if, as president, he would order enforcement of federal marijuana law, Trump responded: “Officially, I’m in favor of medical marijuana. For legalization, I have been in favor of states’ rights. In other words, let the states work it out.”
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Trump also said: “I have always been a person that says, ‘Let’s see what happens in Colorado.’ Because you’re doing a great test to see what happens, and I like the idea of a state making that decision. I believe if people vote for it, that’s the way it should go. Colorado is an example of that. It’s states’ rights.”
Read the rest of this story and hear the audio at Gazette.com
Topics: cole memo, donald trump, Jeff Sessions, presidential candidates, Trump administration
