Jeb Bush Supports Decriminalizing Marijuana Now

Bush is Pro Weed

The trailing Republican presidential candidate, Jeb Bush, has not previously endorsed a removal of criminal penalties for cannabis possession until now. He announced his new perspective during an interview with Joe Mathieu of Boston’s WBZ NewsRadio Friday morning. Although the presidential hopeful supports decriminalizing weed he still seems to believe it’s a gateway drug. And that what he calls “new marijuana” is “highly, highly toxic.”

“It’s one thing to say we should have decriminalization of marijuana. I support that,” the former Florida governor said. “Marijuana is a gateway drug just as opiates are a gateway drug,” Bush continued. “Of course it is, every study shows that.”

We all know that’s not true. A press release we got from the Marijuana Policy Project points to research by the Institute of Medicine in 1999 that found, “There is no conclusive evidence that the drug effects of marijuana are causally linked to the subsequent abuse of other illicit drugs.”

Marijuana “does not appear to be a gateway drug to the extent that it is the cause or even that it is the most significant predictor of serious drug abuse,” the institute wrote in a review commissioned by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

In the radio interview Bush also went on to say tha,t “the new heroin and the new marijuana are highly, highly toxic.” As if somehow the nation’s current opioid overdose epidemic has something do with marijuana. In fact marijuana has been used to treat heroin dependency.

“The marijuana that is available today is no more toxic than the marijuana Gov. Bush used in college. It was far less toxic than alcohol then, and it’s far less toxic than alcohol now,” said Mason Tvert of the Marijuana Policy Project in a statement we received. “It’s always astonishing to hear someone running for our nation’s highest office still believes in the reefer madness that was conjured up more than half a century ago. Equating marijuana to heroin is like equating apples to orange soda,” he continued.

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It wasn’t clear what Bush meant when referring to “new” versions of the drugs, reported marijuana.com who go on to say, but he did reiterate previous comments indicating he thinks states should be able to legalize marijuana without federal interference even though he personally supports continued prohibition. This is clearly gonna be a state issue not a federal issue, he said on air.

Minutes after admitting he smoked weed Bush tweeted an apology

Keep in mind that we all know Bush has smoked pot previously. He came out during September’s GOP debate saying “Forty years ago I smoked marijuana and I admitted it. I’m sure other people did it and didn’t want to admit it in front of 40 million people,” after being surprised by a question about his history with weed. Bush has also campaigned against medical marijuana in the past. Perhaps if he suffered any sort of punishment as a result of marijuana prohibition or needed medical pot to treat a debilitating condition he would think differently.

“A solid majority of Americans think marijuana should be legal for adults, and an even stronger majority support legal access to medical marijuana. Gov. Bush might be evolving on the issue, but he’s still lagging behind most Americans,” Tvert said. And we couldn’t agree more.

Do you think Presidential hopeful Jeb Bush is just trying to jump on the legalization band wagon to gain votes? Let us know in the comments below…