Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), former President Donald Trump’s vice presidential running mate, is acknowledging that fentanyl-laced marijuana is a relatively rare occurrence—despite the fact that he repeatedly sounds the alarm about the issue during his stump speech on the campaign trail.
In an interview with comedian Theo Von that was released on Tuesday, the two discussed drug policy, focusing on the fentanyl crisis. At one point, Von also lamented how the infusion of the potent opioid into the drug supply has meant people “can’t even do cocaine in this country anymore” without risking a fentanyl overdose, drawing laughs from the senator who agreed that the problem has deprived people of the chance to make “stupid mistakes” without potentially dying as a result.
But while Vance has beaten the drum at multiple recent campaign stops about incidents of cannabis being contaminated with fentanyl, pitting blame on border policies under the Biden-Harris administration, he clarified in the conversation that he doesn’t actually believe those cases are widespread.
The vice presidential nominee said that he’s spoken with a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) official about the “explosion” of drug trafficking in recent years and added that “you hear about stories—and I don’t think it happens that much, thank god—but somebody smokes a joint, it’s laced with fentanyl and they go into a coma.”
Von, who has been open about his past struggles with cocaine, said he’s had seven friends who’ve died from drug overdoses. And the senator said, “with the harder stuff, it happens a lot.”
“You know, you hear about it being laced in marijuana, but, like, not that much,” Vance said. “But your point about cocaine, pills—we have to be careful.”
To that point, a recent federally funded study found that there’s “no evidence” that marijuana is widely being laced with fentanyl. But at various previous campaign events, Vance has made much of the issue.
During campaign speeches in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania this past week, he again talked about visiting a Georgia sheriff’s department and being shown “library shelves” full of “bags” of marijuana that officers have seized, as well as “more refined THC,” including some in the form of candy containing fentanyl.
He also shared the same anecdote during an event in Atlanta earlier this month, reiterating his argument that it’s an example of how the Biden-Harris administration has failed to effectively manage the U.S.-Mexico border.
While Vance has expressed support for a states’ rights approach to cannabis policy and indicated he’s opposed to criminalizing people over marijuana possession, he’s more recently leaned into anti-drug rhetoric, including during an earlier campaign event with the Milwaukee Police Association in Wisconsin in August.
At the time, he claimed “marijuana bags” are being laced with fentanyl, and he said the Biden administration’s border policies were also making it so that youth, including his own kids, can’t experiment with cannabis or other drugs without risking fatal overdoses.
He made a similar in response to Von, who said “you can’t even do cocaine in this country anymore [because of fentanyl contamination], and that seems like a crazy thing to say.”
Laughing, Vance said “I’m gonna steal that line after the election,” but only if he and Trump win the race.
Advocates would argue that’s a key reason to enact a regulatory framework for marijuana or other drugs that includes testing requirements and other safeguards to mitigate the risk of dangerous contaminants, but the GOP candidate did not draw that connection and continues to maintain an opposition to cannabis legalization.
Vance, who was elected to the Senate in 2022, doesn’t have an extensive cannabis policy record. However, he’s voted against bipartisan banking legislation that passed in committee and has argued that states that have enacted legalization should increase enforcement activities, complained about the smell of cannabis multiple times and suggested that its use can lead to violence.
A 271-page leaked memo with vetting material on Vance included his cannabis legalization opposition under a list of “notable vulnerabilities” with moderate voters, alongside his past comments on slashing Social Security and Medicare, opposition to student loan forgiveness, support for abortion restrictions and his views on race relations, among others.
Trump, for his part, evidently doesn’t see a major liability in embracing certain cannabis reform policies, as he’s recently backed federal marijuana rescheduling and allowing industry access to banking services, as well as a Florida legalization ballot initiative he’ll get to vote as a resident this November.
Harris, meanwhile, recently made her first comments backing federal legalization since accepting the party’s 2024 nomination, weighing in on the reform in a podcast interview that was released last month. That followed weeks of protracted silence on the issue, despite her prior advocacy for legalization and sponsorship of a Senate bill to end federal prohibition.
She also said last week that part of the reason for the delay in the administration’s marijuana rescheduling effort is federal bureaucracy that “slows things down,” including at the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
Last month Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), Harris’s running mate, said he thinks marijuana legalization is an issue that should be left to individual states, adding that electing more Democrats to Congress could also make it easier to pass federal reforms like cannabis banking protections.
Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), former President Donald Trump’s vice presidential running mate, is acknowledging that fentanyl-laced marijuana is a relatively rare occurrence—despite the fact that he repeatedly sounds the alarm about the issue during his stump speech on the campaign trail. In an interview with comedian Theo Von that was released on Tuesday, the two Read More