John Kasich, Roger Stone argue over whether anti-pot Kasich sold Reagan staffers weed in 1976
On Wednesday night's Republican debate in Boulder, Colorado, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) made a marijuana joke, offering to buy CNBC moderator Carl Quintanilla "some famous Colorado brownies" — "Mmm. Brownies," Quintanilla replied later — but Ohio Gov. John Kasich was adamantly opposed to Colorado's liberal marijuana law. "Sending kids mixed signals about drugs is a disaster," Kasich said. "I've spent five years of my administration working with my team to do a whole sort of things to try to rein in overdoses."
Roger Stone, a political operative who worked on Ronald Reagan's 1976 bid for the Republican nomination, and later as an advisor to Donald Trump, had something to say about that:
Kasich did work on Reagan's 1976 campaign, but he dismissed Stone's accusation:
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And his campaign pushed back harder, referring reporters to veteran Republican operative Charlie Black, who told Cleveland.com that he was Kasich's supervisor in 1976. "This is the first time I ever heard anyone mention drugs in connection with John Kasich," Black said. "He was not fired. He certainly was not fired for drugs."
Regardless of Kasich's views or past history, Ohio voters will have the final say in November, when both recreational and medical marijuana are on the ballot.
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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
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