On Monday, Vice President Harris has now officially announced her support for marijuana legalization, speaking out publicly for the first time on the issue since becoming the Democratic nominee.
The vice president also stated that his support for marijuana legalization is not a novel stance for him. I have been of the opinion for an extended period that it is imperative that we legalize it.
“I just think we have come to a point where we have to understand that we need to legalize it and stop criminalizing this behavior,” Harris said during a new interview.
“I just feel strongly people should not be going to jail for smoking weed. And we know historically what that has meant and who has gone to jail.” she continued.
Harris’s perspectives regarding marijuana have undergone a flip flop in the last several years.
She has faced criticism in the past for her aggressive prosecution of marijuana-related offenses during her tenure as the district attorney of San Francisco and the attorney general of California.
Additionally, she expressed her opposition to Proposition 19, the unsuccessful 2010 California ballot initiative that sought to legalize and regulate marijuana.
Harris co-sponsored legislation to repeal the federal prohibition of marijuana during his tenure as a senator.
In addition, she advocated for the expungement of nonviolent marijuana-related criminal offenses during her 2019 presidential campaign, a policy that the Biden administration has since implemented.
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