DENVER (AP) – Presidential candidates are talking about marijuana in ways unimaginable not long ago.
White House hopefuls in both parties are taking donations from people in the new marijuana industry, which is investing heavily in political activism as a route to expanded legalization and landed its first major candidate, Rand Paul, at a trade show last month.
Several Republicans, like Democrats, are saying they won’t interfere with states that are legalizing a drug still forbidden under federal law. And at conservative policy gatherings, Republicans are discussing whether drug sentences should be eased.
A quarter century after Bill Clinton confessed he tried marijuana but insisted “I didn’t inhale,” the taboo against marijuana is shrinking at the highest level of politics, just as it appears to be with the public.
“When I was growing up, it was political suicide for a candidate to talk about pot being legal,” said Tim Cullen, owner of Colorado Harvest Co., a chain of medical and recreational marijuana dispensaries.