RFK Jr. Calls for Federal Legalization of Marijuana; Let States Decide Own Laws

Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., advocated on Sunday for the nationwide legalization of marijuana, saying that states should be free to set their own marijuana laws without intervention from the federal government.

Politicians have moved toward legalizing recently, even under President Barack Obama, a self-described former marijuana user, the drug was still illegal under federal law, which led to conflict with the states.

Kennedy tweeted Sunday in response to a statement by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who is running for the Republican nomination, that he would not decriminalize marijuana at the federal level if elected president.

When he was in office, President Donald Trump, who is leading Republican prospects for re-election, voted against legalizing marijuana. Joe Biden, the president, has also refrained from legalizing.

Critics of state decriminalization laws point to rising social unrest in some of the states where marijuana use is permitted as well as the almost omnipresent odor of marijuana smoking in major cities like Los Angeles and New York.

Supporters contend that marijuana is less hazardous than alcohol, that it is not linked to violent crime, and that prohibiting it has resulted in an overrepresentation of small-scale sellers and users in prisons as well as disputes between the states and the federal government.

Conservatives in particular, who often support states’ rights to choose their own laws and support tough-on-crime policies because they believe marijuana is linked to other crimes, are perplexed by the subject.

Kennedy is taking on incumbent president Biden, reiterating an attempt made by his father, Robert F. Kennedy Sr., against then-President Lyndon Johnson, and his uncle, Ted Kennedy, against then-President Jimmy Carter.