Bernie Sanders Thinks Cannabis Should be Federally Legal
Bernie Sanders has long been known to be a cannabis ally, but he was especially outspoken about his support at a Madison, Wisconsin rally earlier this month.
According to ABC 13, Sanders stated that he is fighting to get cannabis de-scheduled entirely. “We can argue about the science and the pluses and minuses about marijuana, but everybody knows marijuana is not a killer drug like heroin,” he stated during the rally. “It should not be a federal crime.”
ABC 13 also reports that Sanders is already working on his plan for de-classifying the substance in order to slowly make it federally legal. He announced this proposal at George Mason University in Virginia, at the same time as the Republican presidential debates in Boulder, Colorado.
“It is time to tax and regulate marijuana,” Sanders stated while making his announcement. “It is time to end the arrest of so many people and the destruction of so many lives for the possession marijuana.”
“Those states that chose to go to further, can then tax marijuana like they tax alcohol and cigarettes and in fact earn a substantial amount of money,” he added during his speech.
That initial announcement was made in front of 2,000 students at George Mason, and was aimed at addressing student issues. His second announcement in Wisconsin was made in front of an older audience, but still received plenty of applause. It appears that Sanders supporters are happy with the cannabis policies he is proposing.
If what Sanders is suggesting becomes a reality, then cannabis would no longer be punishable by federal law. Individual states could still choose to outlaw cannabis within their borders, but legal states would not live under threat of federal persecution. So far, Sanders is the candidate who has been the most outspoken about legal cannabis reform.
