JD Vance says ‘bags of marijuana’ and candy laced with THC and fentanyl are coming over the border, blaming Biden-Harris immigration policies

Former President Donald Trump’s 2024 running mate, Senator JD Vance (R-OH), accuses Vice President Kamala Harris of failing to get marijuana and fentanyl disguised as Nerds candies, and other popular brands that appeal to children to cross the border, to stop.

At a Faith & Freedom Coalition event in Atlanta last month, the senator said he was invited into a sheriff’s department evidence room, where he said he saw “every drug you can imagine,” including “bags and bags of marijuana ‘. fentanyl pills and meth.

“I say, ‘Guys, what’s going on here? You’ve got all these medications here that look to me like a box of candy – a box of Nerds candy,” Vance said. “And they say, ‘Well sir, that’s actually THC and fentanyl.’ But I say, ‘Wait a minute, the cartels disguised the deadly fentanyl to look like kid’s candy so they can make it easier to enter our country?’

“Yet we know that one of those packages of fentanyl will end up on one of our neighborhood streets,” he said. “One of those packages of fentanyl ends up on a child’s playground. One of those packages of what looks like Nerds candy but is actually a deadly substance is going to end up in our schools, and some kid is going to open a package of candy, take a piece of candy out of it, and lose his life because of it.”

‘That’s a sick and twisted person who would do something like that. But it is a sick and twisted human being who wants to give that person power over the United States of America, and that is exactly what Kamala Harris has done,” he said. “She has given these drug cartels free rein over our country, and now they are smuggling in deadly drugs that look like kiddie candy.”

Although Vance has expressed support for a states’ rights approach to cannabis policy and has indicated his opposition to criminalizing people for marijuana possession, he has recently delved into anti-drug rhetoric, including at a previous campaign event with the Milwaukee Police Association in Wisconsin in August. .

At the time, he similarly claimed that “marijuana bags” are laced with fentanyl, and he said the Biden administration’s border policies also prevented young people, including his own children, from experimenting with cannabis or other drugs without the risk of fatal consequences. overdoses.

Proponents would argue that this is a key reason to implement a regulatory framework for marijuana or other drugs that includes testing requirements and other safeguards to limit the risk of dangerous contaminants, but the Republican candidate has not made that connection and continues to oppose against the legalization of cannabis. .

Vance, who was elected to the Senate in 2022, does not have an extensive record on cannabis policy. However, he has voted against bipartisan banking legislation that passed in committee and has argued that states that have adopted legalization should increase enforcement activities, has complained several times about the smell of cannabis and suggested that its use could lead to violence.

A leaked 271-page memo of vetting material on Vance included his opposition to cannabis legalization among a list of “notable vulnerabilities” among moderate voters, in addition to his past comments on cutting Social Security and Medicare, opposition to student loan forgiveness, support for abortion restrictions and his views on race relations, among other things.

Trump, for his part, apparently sees no major risks in embracing certain cannabis reform policies, having recently supported federal marijuana realignment and granting the industry access to banking services, as well as a ballot initiative for legalization in Florida that he will vote on. as a resident in November.

“As President, we will continue to focus on research to unlock the medical use of marijuana as a Schedule 3 drug, and work with Congress to pass common-sense laws, including safe banking for state-authorized businesses, and support of the right of states to pass marijuana laws. , like in Florida, that work so well for their citizens,” he said last month.

“As I have previously stated, I believe it is time to put an end to the unnecessary arrests and incarcerations of adults for small amounts of marijuana for personal use,” he said in a post on his Truth Social site. “We also need to implement smart regulation while providing adults with access to safe, tested products. As a Floridian, I will vote YES on Amendment 3 this November.”

Trump’s marijuana post was a follow-up to a post he made in August in which he indicated — but did not explicitly say — that he supported Amendment 3 in Florida. The previous comments predicted that Florida voters would approve the cannabis measure and generally discussed the benefits of legalization, but some observers wanted more clarity on the former president’s position on the specific state initiative.

Trump also discussed the medical benefits of cannabis last month, saying legalization would be “very good” for Florida in an interview with Lex Fridman.

At a press conference in August, Trump told a reporter that he is becoming “much more in agreement” that people should not be criminalized for marijuana as it “becomes legalized across the country” – adding that he “ pretty soon” would reveal his position on the Florida ballot measure.

For her part, Harris recently made her first comments in support of federal legalization since accepting the party’s 2024 nomination, addressing the reform in a podcast interview released last month. This follows weeks of prolonged silence on the issue, despite her previous advocacy for legalization and sponsorship of a Senate bill to end federal prohibition.

“This is not a new position for me,” Harris said. “I have felt for a long time that we should legalize it. So that’s where I am in that regard.”

Meanwhile, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), Harris’ running mate, said last month that he thinks marijuana legalization is an issue that should be left to individual states, adding that electing more Democrats in Congress could also make it easier to pass federal reforms, such as protecting cannabis banks.

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