Democratic debate leads to debate over cannabis legalization

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Democratic candidates are split on whether or not marijuana reform is needed

On Tuesday, the Democratic presidential candidates held a debate in South Carolina, and, at one point, the debate turned into a heated discussion revolving around cannabis legalization. The exchange began with the moderator asking Senator Amy Klobuchar her thoughts on Senator Bernie Sanders’ proposal on legalizing cannabis nationwide the day he takes office, and how realistic that sounded. On the other hand, former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg stands strong in his opposition to legalizing marijuana.

Regarding Sanders’ proposal of legalizing marijuana, Klobuchar said, “It is realistic to want to legalize marijuana. I want to do that too. I also think you need to look back at people’s records. You maybe can’t do that on day one, as he said. I think you want a process that you go through because there are too many people that have things on their records that stopped them from getting jobs.”

She continued about how cannabis legalization needs to happen alongside investments to target substance misuse treatments. Also, Klobuchar discussed one aspect that Sanders was questioned for based on his proposal, and that is if, in fact, a president has the power to unilaterally lift a federal prohibition.

The debate passed to Bloomberg, who was pressed on his insistence that cannabis is an addictive drug and that it doesn’t have enough research. He also was a target of critics due to a leaked recording in which he justifies the racially disproportionate cannabis arrests during his time in office. “The first thing you should do is we should not make this a criminal thing if you have a small amount. For dealers, yes. But for the average person, no,” Bloomberg said. “You should expunge the records of those that got caught up in this before. Number two, we’re not going to take it away from states that have already done it.”