RFK Jr. wants to decriminalize weed and psychedelics

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has pledged to implement sweeping drug reform if his long-term presidential bid earns him the White House.

In an interview last Thursday, Kennedy, who is challenging President Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination in 2024, said he would change the federal ban on cannabis.

“I would decriminalize marijuana at the federal level and allow the states to regulate it. I would collect a federal tax on that. Proceeds from this tax would be used to build rehabilitation centers across the country and provide drug rehabilitation programs,” Kennedy said in an interview with ReasonTV, quoted by Benzinga.

And at a citizens’ event the day before, Kennedy laid out his vision for drug reform.

“That’s what we need to build here,” Kennedy said, according to Benzinga. “As President, I would decriminalize marijuana. I’m going to make safe bank laws on people who sell it, I’m going to tax it federally, and I’m going to use that money to build these healing centers in rural areas — disadvantaged rural areas — across the country where kids will grow organic food and They are fine and healing mentally, physically and emotionally.”

Kennedy added, “Well, by all means, decriminalize psychedelics,” according to the outlet.

Kennedy, the son of the late Senator and US Attorney General Bobby Kennedy and nephew of President John F. Kennedy, announced his candidacy for the 2024 presidential election in April.

He is perhaps best known for his staunch opposition to vaccines.

“For Mr. Kennedy, that cause is vaccine skepticism, which he disguised with truth-seeking and free speech, a crusade that has led him in the past to falsely link childhood vaccines to autism,” The New York Times reported in April of the timing of his announcement as President. “At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, he sought to undermine public confidence in vaccines by likening government enforcement efforts in some places to ‘Hitler’s Germany.'” Both Facebook and Instagram have accounts for one Group he leads deleted for spreading medical misinformation.”

As the Times reported, Kennedy members “have accused” RFK Jr. of “sowing distrust in the science behind vaccines” and that his unworldly presidential campaign “horrified members of his famous Democratic clan.”

“I love my brother Bobby, but I don’t share or endorse his opinions on many issues, including the Covid pandemic, immunizations and the role of social media platforms in policing false information,” Kerry Kennedy, his sister, said at the time his presidential campaign start.

It’s rare for an incumbent president to challenge his party’s nomination, but Biden faces two opponents in next year’s Democratic primary.

In addition to Kennedy, Marianne Williamson, who was seeking a nomination for the party in 2020, also poses a challenge for Biden.

Polls have shown Kennedy receiving close to 20 percent support from potential Democratic primary voters, a respectable result that still puts him about 40 to 50 points behind Biden.

At Wednesday’s town hall meeting, Kennedy refused to commit to supporting Biden in a general election.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Kennedy said, quoted by The Hill. “Let’s see what happens in this campaign. Let’s see what — if people live up to democratic values ​​and have debates and discussions and, you know, talk to each other, but I’m not going to bite.”

Kennedy said his intention was to win the nomination and eventually make it to the White House.

“My plan is to win this election and I don’t have a plan B,” he said, according to Hill.