{"id":5183,"date":"2015-12-11T20:29:30","date_gmt":"2015-12-11T20:29:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.marijuana.com\/?p=45719"},"modified":"2015-12-11T20:29:30","modified_gmt":"2015-12-11T20:29:30","slug":"jeb-bush-supports-decriminalization-but-calls-marijuana-a-gateway-drug","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/jeb-bush-supports-decriminalization-but-calls-marijuana-a-gateway-drug\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeb Bush Supports Decriminalization But Calls Marijuana a \u2018Gateway Drug\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/jeb-bush-supports-decriminalization-but-calls-marijuana-a-gateway-drug\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><p>Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush announced a slight shift in his position on marijuana laws on Friday.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"line-height: 1.5\">&#8220;It&#8217;s one thing to say we should have decriminalization of marijuana. I support that,&#8221; the former Florida governor said in an interview with Joe Mathieu of Boston&#8217;s\u00a0WBZ NewsRadio. Bush\u00a0had not previously endorsed a removal of criminal penalties for cannabis possession.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" width=\"550\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">.<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JebBush\">@JebBush<\/a> came by <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/wbznewsradio\">@wbznewsradio<\/a> this AM. He talks to <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JoeMathieuWBZ\">@JoeMathieuWBZ<\/a> at 8:10 re: legalizing <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/marijuana?src=hash\">#marijuana<\/a> in <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/MA?src=hash\">#MA<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/fitn?src=hash\">#fitn<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/5eJEbUaac4\">pic.twitter.com\/5eJEbUaac4<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; WBZ NewsRadio (@wbznewsradio) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/wbznewsradio\/status\/675298573337128961\">December 11, 2015<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js?8bcc36\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>But Bush\u00a0added that he still opposes full legalization, reiterating how he even voted against a medical marijuana ballot measure that appeared on his state&#8217;s ballot in 2014.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Marijuana is a gateway drug just as opiates are a gateway drug,&#8221; Bush continued. &#8220;Of course it is, every study shows that.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In point of fact, a comprehensive research assessment by the Institute of Medicine in 1999 found, &#8220;There is no conclusive evidence that the drug effects of marijuana are causally linked to the subsequent abuse of other illicit drugs.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Marijuana &#8220;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,&#8221; the institute wrote\u00a0in a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nap.edu\/read\/6376\/\">review<\/a>\u00a0commissioned by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.<\/p>\n<p>In the new radio interview, Bush tied what he sees as marijuana&#8217;s dangers to the opioid overdose epidemic the United States is undergoing.\u00a0&#8220;The new heroin and the new marijuana are highly, highly toxic,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>It wasn&#8217;t clear what Bush meant when referring to &#8220;new&#8221; versions of the drugs 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.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This is clearly gonna be a state issue not a federal issue,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>To find out what else Bush and other presidential candidates have said about marijuana, read our <a href=\"http:\/\/www.marijuana.com\/blog\/news\/2015\/04\/where-do-presidential-candidates-stand-on-marijuana\/\">complete overview here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush announced a slight shift in his position on marijuana laws on Friday. &#8220;It&#8217;s one thing to say we should have decriminalization of marijuana. I support that,&#8221; the former Florida governor said in an interview with Joe Mathieu of Boston&#8217;s\u00a0WBZ NewsRadio. Bush\u00a0had not previously endorsed a removal of criminal penalties for [&#8230;] <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2417,9,2418,1,3],"tags":[2419,2420],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5183"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5183\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}