President Trump is reportedly worried that marijuana legalization initiatives on the November ballot in a number of swing states will be a plus for Joe Biden—because voters who favor cannabis reform tend to lean Democratic. Trump believes the inclusion of weed legalization will supercharge voters, making it a marginal issue that takes on greater importance and might shift voters toward progressive candidates and causes.
Trump’s take on pot—and drugs in general—has shifted over the years: decades ago he favored full-on legalization of all drugs (and more recently advocated executing drug dealers by firing squad), but by 2016 he was strongly against legal weed. That might change this year as two of the four states where recreational cannabis will likely be on the ballot—Arizona and Montana—have U.S. Senate contests where Republican incumbents are facing tough fights.
Meanwhile, new CDC datafrom Hawaii shows that nearly half of all high schools students in the state have tried e-cigarettes and about one-third are regular users—and big jump from just two years ago when one in four students said they vaped. The numbers, which are even higher for Native Hawaiians and Pacific islanders, points to the urgent need for public health programs to protect youth from all tobacco products.
And finally, a new study from Canada finds that that vast majority of opioid deaths in British Columbia involve illicit and non-prescribed substances such as fentanyl—and not prescription opioids. The data suggests that while reducing the number of opioid prescriptions through monitoring programs is still important, it should not be the only component of efforts to combat the opioid crisis.