GOP Congressman Running For Florida Governor Admits To Selling Marijuana Despite Opposing Legalization And Sentencing Reform

A GOP congressman running for governor in Florida who has opposed marijuana
legalization in the state and sponsored federal legislation to upend a
Washington, D.C. sentencing reform law has admitted for the first time that
he was arrested for selling cannabis as a young adult.

Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), a Trump-endorsed GOP candidate vying to replace
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), was pressed on the apparent disconnect
during an interview with CBS Miami that aired on Saturday.

While it was previously known that Donalds faced an arrest over marijuana
in 1997—only to have the charges dropped years later as part of a pre-trial
diversion program—this marked the first time he’s publicly admitted to
selling small amounts of cannabis and acknowledged that he benefitted from
the type of criminal justice reform law he’s worked to undermine in the
District of Columbia.

“Honestly, I was walking down the street, I was leaving a party, officers
came up, asked me if I would empty my pockets. I said, ‘Yes, of course.’ I
had a dime bag of marijuana in my pocket. That’s the story,” the
congressman said. “It was bad decisions. I can’t undo that decision.”

Donalds said he sold “low-level amounts” of marijuana, reiterating that he
made “terrible decisions” and that it was among the things he did in his
early adulthood that he wishes he could “undo.”

“I wish I could undo [it]. I wish I could, but I can’t do that,” he said.
“I would tell people, if you examine my life since 20 years old, my life
has really been a story of redemption.”

But that redemption arc was made possible, in part, thanks to sentencing
policy that afforded Donalds a level of relief that he’s sought to deprive
D.C. residents of—a point that Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) raised during a
House floor debate last year where she slammed her GOP colleague over the
apparent double standard.

“Imagine standing in front of a judge with your life hanging in balance,
and instead of prison you’re given a promise of mercy. Your record is wiped
clean, and you’ve got a second chance at life,” Crockett said. “Imagine
turning that into a promotion and you go to college and get a job and even
become a member of Congress. That’s what redemption looks like.”

“That’s what America is supposed to be about. And that is exactly the story
of the next wannabe governor from Florida, as a young man, he went
through,” she said, referring to Donalds.

Donalds, who also took a stand against a Florida marijuana legalization
ballot initiative in 2024 and argued the issue should be up to the
legislature to decide, said during his latest interview that he will “never
say that the decisions I made when I was very young were right decisions or
smart decisions.”

“They were terrible decisions—desperate decisions—but in Florida, I had to
face the music as an adult. In D.C., they were letting 20 or four year olds
be tried as juveniles. That’s not right,” he said. “In Florida, I had to
face the music as an adult, not as a juvenile. Now, Florida does have laws
around diversion—being able to seal records—and yes, those were things that
were afforded to me. And I look back on those days and I say, ‘You know
what? That helped me restart my life. So be it.’ But in D.C., it was very
different.”

Donalds has also raised eyebrows after acknowledging that there’s “a trace
of racism” in marijuana enforcement, while still maintaining that advocates
have gone too far in their pursuit of scaling back harsh sentencing laws.


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The congressman’s overall record on reform legislation is somewhat mixed.

For example, he’s voted in favor of marijuana banking legislation, as well
as a bill to reduce restrictions on carrying out cannabis research. The
congressman is also a cosponsor of a bill to protect gun rights for medical
cannabis patients this session, and he’s twice cosponsored legislation to
automatically seal criminal records for people convicted of non-violent
marijuana offenses.

While he experienced a cannabis arrest himself, Donalds also voted against
an amendment to prevent people from being denied security clearances over
prior marijuana use—even though he’s able to receive classified briefings
as a member of Congress regardless of his own history with cannabis. The
congressman additionally voted against a bill to legalize marijuana in 2022.

The post GOP Congressman Running For Florida Governor Admits To Selling
Marijuana Despite Opposing Legalization And Sentencing Reform appeared
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