--- title: Roger Stone Wants Donald Trump to Legalize Marijuana description: Roger Stone is on a mission to convince the president to legalize marijuana through a new lobbying group canonical: https://time.com/4822494/roger-stone-donald-trump-marijuana-legalize/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-06-16T21:51:44.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T16:11:57.179Z article:section: Politics og:title: Roger Stone Wants President Trump to Legalize Marijuana og:description: He started a new political organization og:url: https://time.com/4822494/roger-stone-donald-trump-marijuana-legalize/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt10823bcb08bca665/6988d22acf40a81659c482ce/roger-stone-trump-marijuana.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Roger Stone Addresses Women's Republican Club Of Miami og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Roger Stone Wants President Trump to Legalize Marijuana twitter:description: He started a new political organization twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt10823bcb08bca665/6988d22acf40a81659c482ce/roger-stone-trump-marijuana.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Roger Stone Wants President Trump to Legalize Marijuana by [Mahita Gajanan](/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Jun 16, 2017 9:51 PM CUT  Roger Stone, a longtime political adviser and friend to President Donald Trump, speaks during a visit to the Women's Republican Club of Miami, Federated on May 22, 2017 in Coral Gables, Florida. Roger Stone, a longtime political adviser and friend to President Donald Trump, speaks during a visit to the Women's Republican Club of Miami, Federated on May 22, 2017 in Coral Gables, Florida.Joe Raedle—Getty Images by [Mahita Gajanan](/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Jun 16, 2017 9:51 PM CUT [Roger Stone](http://time.com/4706985/comey-hearing-roger-stone/ "undefined"), a close confidant of [President Donald Trump](http://time.com/4819555/fight-to-bring-order-donald-trump-white-house/ "undefined"), is on a mission to convince Trump to legalize marijuana through a new lobbying group. Stone, a longtime Trump ally whose name has come up in the growing investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, announced on Friday that he is forming the United States Cannabis Coalition, a new bipartisan organization that aims to get the Trump Administration to recognize the medicinal value of cannabis. The organization is registered with the IRS as a section 527 nonprofit, [_Business Insider_ reports](http://www.businessinsider.com/roger-stone-donald-trump-legalize-weed-marijuana-cannabis "undefined"). “I am going to be working with a coalition of Republicans and Democrats, progressives and libertarians, liberals, and conservatives to persuade the president to keep his campaign pledge, and to remind the president that he took a strong and forthright position on this issue in the election,” Stone said at the Cannabis World Congress and Business Expo. While campaigning, Trump said he thinks legalizing marijuana should be a [“state issue, state-by-state.”](http://time.com/4594445/legal-marijuana-trump-sessions-policy/ "undefined") In a 2016 appearance on Fox News, Trump [said](http://time.com/4594445/legal-marijuana-trump-sessions-policy/ "undefined") he was “100%” in favor of medical marijuana. But since taking office, the Trump Administration has indicated it wants to crack down on states that have legalized marijuana. In May, Attorney General [Jeff Sessions](http://time.com/4817199/jeff-sessions-testimony-russia-investigation-briefing/ "undefined"), who has long opposed legalization, [sent a letter](https://www.scribd.com/document/351079834/Sessions-Asks-Congress-To-Undo-Medical-Marijuana-Protections "undefined") to Congress asking lawmakers to allow the Department of Justice to crack down on businesses and people in states where medical marijuana is legal. Department of Homeland Security chief Gen. John Kelly has also [criticized the legalization](http://time.com/4594445/legal-marijuana-trump-sessions-policy/ "undefined") of marijuana. Stone said Trump’s promise to uphold states’ rights to legalize marijuana gave the President a “slight edge” in winning the election. “It’s our intention to identify, reach and mobilize millions of pro-cannabis voters to urge the President to keep his word,” Stone said. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4822494/roger-stone-donald-trump-marijuana-legalize/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4822494/roger-stone-donald-trump-marijuana-legalize/"},"headline":"Roger Stone Wants President Trump to Legalize Marijuana","datePublished":"2017-06-16T21:51:44.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T16:11:57.179Z","description":"He started a new political organization","url":"https://time.com/4822494/roger-stone-donald-trump-marijuana-legalize/","keywords":["White House","Drugs","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt10823bcb08bca665/6988d22acf40a81659c482ce/roger-stone-trump-marijuana.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt10823bcb08bca665/6988d22acf40a81659c482ce/roger-stone-trump-marijuana.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Roger Stone Addresses Women's Republican Club Of Miami","caption":"Roger Stone Addresses Women's Republican Club Of Miami","creditText":"Joe Raedle—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4822494/roger-stone-donald-trump-marijuana-legalize/","name":"Roger Stone Wants President Trump to Legalize Marijuana"}}]}] ```