Editorial: Trump and Harris want weed legalized, but they ignore the downsides

Boston Herald editorial staff, Boston Herald on Oct 4, 2024

Published in Op Eds

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Legalizing marijuana isn’t as hot-button an issue in this election as abortion or immigration, but both presidential candidates former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris have weighed in, and for once, they’re in agreement.

Both, however, are missing a big point.

Last month, Trump posted on the Truth Social platform: “As I have previously stated, I believe it is time to end needless arrests and incarcerations of adults for small amounts of marijuana for personal use. We must also implement smart regulations, while providing access for adults, to safe, tested product. As a Floridian, I will be voting YES on Amendment 3 this November. As President, we will continue to focus on research to unlock the medical uses of marijuana to a Schedule 3 drug, and work with Congress to pass common sense laws, including safe banking for state authorized companies, and supporting states rights to pass marijuana laws, like in Florida, that work so well for their citizens.”

A spokesman for Harris’s campaign dismissed it as “blatant pandering,” the Hill reported.

On Monday, however, Harris spoke up on the issue for the first time publicly since she became the Democratic nominee.

“I just think we have come to a point where we have to understand that we need to legalize it and stop criminalizing this behavior,” Harris said during an interview on the sports and culture podcast “All the Smoke.”

“I just feel strongly people should not be going to jail for smoking weed. And we know historically what that has meant and who has gone to jail.”

The vice president added that supporting marijuana legalization is “not a new position for me. I have felt for a long time we need to legalize it.”

Not quite.

As San Francisco’s district attorney and Attorney General for California, Harris aggressively prosecuted marijuana-related crimes. She also spoke out against Proposition 19, the failed 2010 California ballot measure to legalize and regulate marijuana. She switched sides as a senator, and co-sponsored legislation to end the federal prohibition of marijuana.

Legalizing weed plays well among the younger voting demographic, one coveted by both parties. But the question: “what happens after marijuana is legal and readily available” is rarely asked nor answered.

A 2022 study by the National Institutes of Health on traffic crash rates after legalizing weed found that recreational use of marijuana was associated with a 6.5% increase in injury crash rates and a 2.3% increase in fatal crash rates.

Legalizing marijuana may spur a boost in entrepreneurship in the cannabis industry and create jobs, but it isn’t without consequences. If both candidates are touting the legalization of weed across the country, then both need a strategy to reduce buzzed driving and cut down on marijuana-influenced crashes.

Winning over voters is one thing, but putting Americans at risk of harm by more drivers under the influence is short-sighted and potentially fatal.

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