Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy voted against marijuana legalization in Ohio on Tuesday, even though he previously expressed support for cannabis reform on the federal level. What’s more, a couple of months ago, Ramaswamy told Bill Maher that “it’s a joke” that cannabis is not legal nationwide.
So, how come the opposition?
Ramaswamy opened up to CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Tuesday night, explaining his vote, first reported Marijuana Moment.
“I voted no on that one, specifically for two reasons.” GOP presidential candidate said, “One, I think it’s an abandonment of the rule of law when you have one set of rules at the federal level, but state laws that contradict federal law. I don’t think that helps our commitment to the rule of law. I think it creates a lot of confusion in this country. And, also the tax proceeds here were directed towards purposes that I think have no place, equity programs or otherwise, that are completely irrelevant to the measure at issue.”
When Collins asked him if he feels out of touch with other Ohioans since he voted no on both the abortion rights issue and cannabis issue and both have passed, Ramaswamy responded: “To call that out of touch with Ohioans is out of touch Kaitlan, with all due respect. You were asking me if I feel out of touch because I sided with 45 percent of people rather than 55 percent of people or wherever the numbers end up shaking out.”
Issue 2 won on a 57–43 margin Tuesday, making Ohio 24th state in the nation to legalize recreational cannabis use.
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Ramaswamy continued to explain his views, saying, “the disconnect state-level laws that are drastically different than the federal laws create confusion and abandonment of the culture of the rule of law in this country.”
In the end, Ramaswamy offered consideration for the results, saying, “we live in a constitutional republic.“That means we live by what the people vote for, according to the rules of that constitutional republic. And so, you know, it is what it is, and I understand that, but I disagree with the outcome that was reached.”
Watch the entire video below:
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Photo: Benzinga edit with images by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay and Gage Skidmore via Wikimedia Commons
Image and article originally from www.benzinga.com. Read the original article here.