At a town hall meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada, Joe Biden went full boomer and declared that he would not legalize cannabis as president, citing concerns that it may be a “gateway drug.”
It seems easy to forget that, just over three years ago, Joe Biden was strutting around the White House, occupying the roles of both Vice President and America’s coolest grandpa. He and Obama galavanted their way through our hearts, partaking in lovable hijinks while sporting cheesy Ray-Bans and friendship bracelets.
But that was then, and this is now.
Now, Biden is making the wild decision to rehash some anti-cannabis rhetoric older than his kids. Biden’s assertion that cannabis could serve as a gateway drug has long been refuted by experts, who often claim that the use of cannabis by users of harder drugs is far more likely to be a result of social factors rather than qualities inherent to cannabis.
The Biden Backpedal
Following the inevitable backlash resulting from his comments, Joe Biden took to Twitter to defend his statements:
In fairness, these are all decent (if not long overdue) views for a presidential candidate to be backing. However, two issues immediately come to mind.
First, Biden leaves one very important step out of his nifty infographic: the federal legalization of cannabis. Sure, he intends to allow states to make their own decisions regarding the legality of the plant, but a lack of legalization at a federal level presents serious issues. Not only is it unreasonable to expect that every state will come to reason (here’s looking at you, Bible Belt), but a lack of federal legalization also makes banking a logistical and legal minefield for cannabis companies in states where it is legal.
Second, Biden’s tweet does nothing to address the actual issue with his statements: the propagation of cannabis as a gateway drug. Saying that he will take measures to decriminalize and research cannabis is a good start, sure. However, the reputation of cannabis as a substance that leads to the use of hard drugs is one of the main obstacles standing in the way of cannabis decriminalization and research in the first place.
At this point, espousing the bare minimum of cannabis-friendly rhetoric simply isn’t enough. If this country is going to get to a point where it has a healthy and beneficial relationship with cannabis, then the stigmas surrounding it need to be eliminated. Having that type of open-mindedness in the White House would be a great start but, sadly, it seems that Biden is just an old dog too stubborn to pick up new tricks.
