Holds office U.S. Senate
Ted Cruz is a recipient of donations both directly and indirectly (through ALEC) of GeoGroup, one of America’s largest private prison corporations: https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/recips.php?id=D000022003&cycle=2016 For profit prisons lobby against marijuana legalization and legal immigration to keep their lucrative prison quotas. In fact, according to OpenSecrets.org, Ted Cruz is our nation’s 8th largest recipient of for profit prison money; https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/recips.php?cycle=2018&ind=G7000 As a result, more than 70,000 nonviolent Texans are arrested annually for small marijuana possessions.
"I don’t support drug legalization,I think drug legalization ends up harming people. I think it particularly hurts young people. It traps them in addiction...I’ve always said that should be a question for the states. I think different states can resolve it differently. So in Texas — if we were voting on it in Texas — I would vote against legalizing it. But I think it’s the prerogative of Texans to make that decision, and I think another state like Colorado can make a very different decision." (5/1/23)
"When it comes to a question of legalizing marijuana, I don't support legalizing marijuana," he told Hugh Hewitt in April. "If it were on the ballot in the state of Texas, I would vote no. But I also believe that's a legitimate question for the states to make a determination...I think it is appropriate for the federal government to recognize that the citizens of those states have made that decision, and one of the benefits of it, you know, using Brandeis' terms of laboratories of democracy, is we can now watch and see what happens in Colorado and Washington State."
2/04/16
http://www.theweedblog.com/does-presidential-candidate-ted-cruz-support-marijuana-reform/
167 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510