Libertarian presidential nominee and admitted marijuana user Gary Johnson has promised to lay off the substance if he’s elected president.

The former governor of New Mexico told The Hill during a Facebook Live interview Monday that he used marijuana recreationally “as recently as a month ago,” but he vowed to abstain for the rest of his campaign and during his presidency if he should win.

“The notion of getting that call at midnight or two o’clock — I think people need to really believe that there will be a firm voice on the other side,” he said.

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Mr. Johnson, who resigned in January as CEO of Cannabis Sativa, Inc., to pursue his presidential campaign, said he has not touched alcohol in nearly 30 years, The Hill reported.

He said legalizing recreational marijuana would lead to less substance abuse, “because people are going to find it as such a safer alternative than everything else that’s out there, starting with alcohol.”

“Marijuana products on the medicinal side directly compete with legal prescription painkillers and antidepressants that statistically kill 100,000 people a year,” Mr. Johnson said. “Marijuana products — not one documented death.”