On Sunday, Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. advocated for the nationwide legalization of marijuana, despite the fact that he believes individual states should be free to establish their own marijuana policies.
Although politicians have made progress in recent years toward legalization, federal law still regards marijuana as illegal, generating tension with states even under President Barack Obama, a confessed former devotee.
After Florida Governor and Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis said he would not support federal marijuana decriminalization if elected, Kennedy responded with a tweet on Sunday.
Republican frontrunner Donald Trump is running on a promise to bring marijuana prohibition back to the United States. Joe Biden, the Vice President, has also refrained from calling for full legalization.
Critics of state legalization laws point to the near-ubiquitous stench of pot smoke in cities like Los Angeles and New York, as well as rises in societal malaise in certain jurisdictions that have legalized marijuana.
Marijuana supporters say the drug is safer than alcohol, is not linked to violent crime, and that the prohibition of the drug has resulted in the wrongful imprisonment of minor offenders and exacerbated tensions between the federal government and individual states.
Conservatives are particularly perplexed about the issue because they frequently support state sovereignty on a variety of issues but also support strict anti-crime legislation because they think marijuana is associated with other crimes.
His uncle Ted Kennedy ran against President Jimmy Carter, and his father Robert F. Kennedy Sr. ran against President Lyndon Johnson; now Kennedy is fighting the incumbent president, Joe Biden.