“Now, instead of having a flavour that’s at least safe, they’re going to be having a flavour that’s poison. That’s a big problem.”

Did President Donald Trump acknowledge the failure of policies prohibiting drugs during a meeting on vaping?

During a meeting with individuals representing opposite sides of the dispute regarding whether or not to tighten restrictions on products such as flavoured vape liquids, Trump expressed skepticism as to whether prohibition was an effective means of control over illicit substances. (His administration had recently considered tightening those restrictions, but, ultimately, refrained from doing so.)

“When you watch prohibition, when you look at the alcohol, you look at cigarettes, you look at it all, if you don’t give it to them, it’s going to come here illegally,” Trump said at the meeting late last week. “That’s the one problem I can’t seem to forget.”

The notion has not exactly been embraced by the Trump administration, which has blamed diverse sources such as Mexico, India, and illegal immigration for the country’s drug woes.

“How do you solve the fact that it’s going to be shipped in from Mexico? That’s a problem,” said Trump. “You have the same problem with drugs and everything else.”

“You just have to look at the history of it,” Trump continued. “Now, instead of having a flavor that’s at least safe, they’re going to be having a flavor that’s poison. That’s a big problem.”

While cannabis prohibition wasn’t specifically discussed at the meeting, the comments may indicate a slowly changing attitude from U.S. politicians surrounding the drug.

Democratic candidates such as Kamala Harris, Cory Booker and Elizabeth Warren have spoken in favour of federally legalizing cannabis, as have Republicans like Rep. Matt Gaetz and Jeremy Faison.

Trump’s comments are reminiscent of opinions he expressed pre-politics in the early 1990s, during which time he expressed his support for removing prohibition to displace the illicit drug market. “We’re losing badly the war on drugs,” he said at the time.

“You have to legalize drugs to win that war. You have to take the profit away from these drug czars,” he said.

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