Ted Cruz’s pot flip-flop at CPAC

Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) may have criticized President Obama for allowing Colorado and Washington to legalize recreational marijuana use in the past, but now he’s singing a different tune.

“Look, I actually think this is a great embodiment of what Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis called ‘the laboratories of democracy,’” Cruz told Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Thursday. “If the citizens of Colorado decide they want to go down that road, that’s their prerogative.”

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“I personally don’t agree with it,” he added, “But that’s their right.”

While Cruz is now adamant that the decision to legalize marijuana is a state issue, he was eager to condemn Obama’s lack of intervention in recreational marijuana laws last year.

“The Obama administration’s approach to drug policy is to simply announce that across the country, it is going to stop enforcing certain drug laws,” Cruz told Reason last year. “Now, that may or may not be a good policy, but I would suggest that should concern anyone – it should even concern libertarians who support that policy outcome – because the idea that the president simply says criminal law that are on the books, we’re going to ignore [them]. That is a very dangerous precedent.”

After criticizing Obama for allowing states to legalize marijuana without federal intervention, Cruz has been under fire for flip-flopping on the subject of marijuana laws.

That being said, Cruz can’t be considered close-minded about the topic. He did, after all, admit to experimenting with pot as a teenager, which he now calls a “mistake,” according to The Huffington Post.

“I think we can have an intelligent conversation about drug policy and the degree to which it may or may not be achieving the ends we hope it would achieve,” Cruz said last year.

SEE ALSO: Drug reform was Obama’s chance to reignite youth

The topic of marijuana legalization is something that every potential presidential candidate will need to take a position on, especially since Colorado and Washington will no longer be the sole states where recreational marijuana use is legal.

Alaska, Washington D.C., and Oregon all have programs going into effect that will legalize marijuana use.