VP Kamala Harris touts federal marijuana pardons after months of silence on cannabis reform

Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday touted President Joe Biden’s decision to grant mass federal marijuana pardons, ending her months-long hiatus from publicly speaking on cannabis policy issues.

The vice president, who like Biden campaigned on marijuana reform but has generally avoided addressing the topic since taking office, briefly discussed the pardon proclamation during a Texas Democratic Party reception.

After highlighting the president’s appointment of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, Harris said “speaking of the system of justice, we are also changing—y’all might have heard that this week—the federal government’s approach to marijuana.”

“Because the bottom line there is: Nobody should have to go to jail for smoking weed,” she said.

Harris also acknowledged the president’s actions in a tweet on the day the proclamation was announced, saying it represented a “step forward in correcting the historic injustices of failed drug policies.”

The last time that the vice president publicly talked about marijuana policy was in April 2021, when she said that the administration was too busy dealing with “all-consuming” issues like vaccine distribution to take action on cannabis.

Published: October 10, 2022

The post VP Kamala Harris touts federal marijuana pardons after months of silence on cannabis reform appeared first on L.A. Cannabis News.