{"id":41581,"date":"2019-10-23T19:23:19","date_gmt":"2019-10-23T19:23:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/10\/23\/mayor-pete-puffed-pot\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T19:55:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T19:55:48","slug":"mayor-pete-puffed-pot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2019\/10\/23\/mayor-pete-puffed-pot\/","title":{"rendered":"Mayor Pete puffed pot!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

LAS VEGAS \u2014 Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg <\/a>said Wednesday that he\u2019s used marijuana \u201ca handful of times a long time ago,\u201d and that it\u2019s time for the U.S. to legalize marijuana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buttigieg, speaking to reporters after touring a legal pot dispensary in suburban Las Vegas, was asked about whether he’d ever used marijuana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I have. A handful of times a long time ago,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that he knows people whose lives have been \u201cshaken\u201d by its criminalization and the so-called \u201cwar on drugs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buttigieg said people still have an image of the marijuana industry and dispensaries that’s based on outdated stereotypes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen you go into a place like this, it almost reminds you of an Apple store<\/a> how tidy and carefully it\u2019s laid out, knowledgeable employees and a legitimate business that still struggles because federal policy hasn\u2019t caught up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mayor of South Bend, Indiana walked through the dispensary with the shop’s owners and shook the hands of several employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a pungent, herbal scent hung in the air and three workers nearby bundled and labeled pairs of joints, Buttigieg asked about the testing of products and difficulty of banking.<\/p>\n\n\n\t