Congress Should Not Legalize Marijuana, Marco Rubio Says, Because Black-Market Weed Is 'Laced With Fentanyl'

When Sen. Marco Rubio (R–Fla.) was seeking the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, a local paper noted that he had "a long history speaking out against marijuana legalization." Given that history and the fact that Rubio's position is rejected by two-thirds of Americans, you might think he would be prepared to defend marijuana prohibition with cogent arguments.

If so, you would be wrong. In a recent interview with a Pensacola TV station, Rubio worried that legalization would encourage teenagers to use cannabis, which would be a "gateway" to other drugs, and warned that black-market marijuana is "laced with fentanyl." All three arguments are logically and empirically dubious. If this is the best that Rubio can do, he'd be better off changing the subject.