Bernie Sanders urges the Senate to approve marijuana legislation

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The presidential hopeful pushes marijuana reform on Capitol Hill

During a US Senate session this past Wednesday, Senator Bernie Sanders said that Congress should remove the federal ban on marijuana as a necessary step toward enacting policing reform and addressing racial injustice. During a speech, Sanders talked about many changes that he feels should take place in policing and criminal justice policies. Sanders, a former presidential candidate, is one of the many lawmakers who have been advocating to end the criminalization of cannabis stating that it could help reduce law enforcement interactions with black people.

“Finally, and certainly not least importantly, we need to legalize marijuana,” he said toward the end of his 25-minute speech. “In the midst of the many crises we face as a country, it is absurd that, under the federal Controlled Substances Act, marijuana is [a] Schedule I, along with killer drugs like heroin.” Sanders added that, just as states have moved to legalize marijuana, the federal government should follow the same path. “When we talk about police department reform, we must end police officers continuing to arrest, search or jail the people of our country, predominantly people of color, for using marijuana,” he added. He has been an avid supporter of legal cannabis even before the protests rose across many cities in the US. Sanders made some similar comments last week during a virtual town hall event in which he was with Senator Cory Brooker.

There are other lawmakers that are raising their voices for the need to legalize marijuana, as well. Representative Lou Correa said during a House Judiciary Committee that any policy changes need to happen alongside ending marijuana prohibition in the name of racial justice. “Although cannabis reform in terms of its criminalization will not undo the practices that have led to these demonstrations that we’re seeing today, decriminalizing cannabis will be a major step in the right direction,” said Correa. “Congress, in my opinion, must move to address decriminalizing cannabis.”