Vivek Ramaswamy, the GOP presidential candidate in Ohio, voted against the ballot initiative that legalized adult-use marijuana on Tuesday. The 38-year old founder of a pharmaceutical company supports legal access for marijuana and psychedelics but he opposes legalization in Ohio.
Ramaswamy told CNN on Tuesday night that he had voted against the legalization issue, Issue 2. “It’s a violation of the rule-of-law when there is a federal set of laws and state laws that are in conflict with federal law,” Ramaswamy said on CNN Tuesday night. This does not help our commitment to rule of law. It creates confusion in the country.”
The GOP candidate also took issue with the allocation of cannabis revenues in Ohio’s ballot measure.
He said: “The tax revenues here were directed to purposes that, in my opinion, have no place. Equity programs or other, which are completely irrelevant to this measure, I believe,” he added.
Ramaswamy rubbed his forehead when CNN anchor Kaitlan Collin asked him if he felt out of touch with other Ohioans, given that he voted against the abortion issue and voted against the marijuana issue. Both issues have passed.
Kaitlan, he said, becoming combative, “I don’t think that to call it out of contact is out of the touch.” You asked me if I felt out of touch for siding with 45 percent rather than 55 percent or whatever the final numbers are.
A survey released last month revealed that despite the fact that Issue 2 was won by a margin of 57-43, more than seven in ten voters (71%) in Ramaswamy’s age range (18-49) supported it regardless of their political party.
Ramaswamy added, “I think there are legitimate and substantive debates that we should have in this nation.” “My opinion is that we should have them openly and respectfully, where each citizen’s voice and vote count equally.”
Ramaswamy previously stated that he supported raising the voting age in the United States to 25. This change would require a constitution amendment.
In an interview with NBC News, the candidate explained his opposition to Issue 2 on Tuesday afternoon.
He said: “I believe that there is room for reasonable discussions at the federal levels about what these policies are, but I do not think we are doing a good service to the rule-of-law in this country when we continue to depart” from federal and state marijuana laws.
“I’m open to a rational conversation about what veterans with certain pain conditions or PTSD could have at their disposal. “Let’s have this discussion at the federal levels,” he said to NBC. “That’s the place where federal drug laws are.” “I don’t think it’s healthy for our nation to see more confusion and chaos at the state-level, and further conflicts between state and Federal law.”
In his CNN interview, Ramaswamy appeared to indicate that even though he doesn’t agree with the outcome of the marijuana vote, he still respects it.
He said, “At the very end of the day we live in a republic with a constitution.” “That means that we live according to what the people vote, in accordance with the rules of this constitutional republic. “It is what it was, I accept that, but disagree with the result.”
Ramaswamy, despite his comments, remains one of the few major GOP presidential candidates in 2024 to publicly support both the legalization of marijuana at the federal government level as well as taking steps to allow regulated therapeutic access for some psychedelics.
The opportunistic businessman has not been the first to make contradictory comments on his drug policy. He often challenges reporting about what specific proposals are endorsed by him. The entrepreneur has also caused controversy in the reform movement by calling for the federal government expand the Drug Enforcement Administration.
During a speech on domestic policy in September, he proposed to fire approximately 75 percent of federal employees and close key agencies. However, the DEA would not be affected, while FBI agents would be transferred to the drug agency.
Ramaswamy, on the one hand has publicly supported decriminalization and federal legalization for marijuana. He also supports a militarized and extreme approach to the fentanyl crisis. This would include sending U.S. soldiers to the border in order to “annihilate Mexican cartels” as part of a “shock and awe” campaign.
I will send the U.S. Military to protect *our* border, not someone else’s. “I will destroy the Mexican drug cartels. That’s the way to end the fentanyl epidemic that kills more Americans than 9/11 every year,” he stated in April. I refuse to be a passive idiot who sits at the White House and watches it all happen. We’re going solve this problem.”
Ramaswamy has made past statements that suggest he would be a good ally to the reform movement, if he were elected president. While he has commented on his bold plans, he also spends considerable time highlighting the proposals to use military forces to combat fentanyl and to expand DEA. These positions would give pause to a skeptic of the drug war, which he describes himself to be.
It’s not clear what drug-related issues the candidate will prioritize in the White House, given that he has just stated his opposition to state-level cannabis reform so long as marijuana remains illegal at the federal level.
Ohio’s top GOP lawmakers and prohibitionist groups push to overturn voter-approved marijuana legalization initiative or amend key provisions
The post GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy Said He Voted Against Legalizing Marijuana in Ohio first appeared on Marijuana Moment.
