At a Las Vegas, Nevada town hall event on Saturday, former vice president and current 2020 Democratic hopeful Joe Biden told a crowd of supporters that he's still not ready to legalize marijuana on a federal level, citing the lack of sufficient evidence to prove that it's not a gateway drug.
According to Business Insider, the question on whether or not Biden would legalize the drug, should he win the presidency in 2020, comes at a time when most of his 2020 Democratic opponents fully support the national legalization of marijuana, which matches a growing number of states making the drug medically legal and cleared for recreational use.
"The truth of the matter is, there's not nearly been enough evidence that has been acquired as to whether or not it is a gateway drug," Biden said.
"It's a debate, and I want a lot more before I legalize it nationally. I want to make sure we know a lot more about the science behind it."
The former vice president is banking on science to eventually determine whether or not the substance can lead someone to use harder drugs.
"It is not irrational to do more scientific investigation to determine, which we have not done significantly enough, whether or not there are any things that relate to whether it's a gateway drug or not," Biden said at the event.
