Harris: A person should not go to jail for smoking marijuana
The Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris, maintains that no one should go to jail for smoking marijuana.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris said Friday, March 15, that “no one should go to jail for smoking marijuana” and called the current federal restrictions on the drug “absurd”.
Harris made these comments during an event at the White House, accompanied by rapper Fat Joe.
In this sense, the rapper shares the idea that a person should not go to jail for smoking marijuana.
Fat Joe defends the decriminalization of marijuana; at the event there were several people who were pardoned by U.S. President Joe Biden for convictions related to cannabis possession.
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“Marijuana is considered as dangerous as heroin and more dangerous than fentanyl, which is absurd, not to mention blatantly unfair,” Harris said.
His statements come at a time when expectations are growing that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) may change the current classification of marijuana, which is considered as addictive as LSD or heroin.
If so, a person should not go to jail for smoking marijuana in the United States.
“A person should not go to jail for smoking marijuana”.
The U.S. Department of Health recommended last year that cannabis no longer be classified in the category known as “schedule I.”
Schedule I includes substances with no acceptable medical use, and will be moved to “Schedule III,” which indicates a lower level of danger.
The final decision now rests with the DEA, although it is not known when this might occur.
The current “schedule I” classification of marijuana, considered a highly dangerous substance, has resulted in harsher sentences for those who use or sell it, which in practice has led to disproportionate incarceration of Hispanic and African-American minorities.
Biden, who is up for re-election in the November elections, is trying to appeal to the youth vote, which largely advocates decriminalization of marijuana.
Currently, its recreational use is legal in 24 states and the District of Columbia, home to the capital Washington. In addition, 38 of the 50 states allow its medicinal use.
However, it remains totally illegal in some states and at the federal level.
Currently, the gray and illicit marijuana markets are at least twice the size of the legal market, which will generate $26 billion in sales nationwide according to figures in 2022.
Although the vice president believes that a person should not go to jail for smoking marijuana, there are still many states that prohibit recreational use.
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Where is recreational use of marijuana illegal in the United States?
There are several states where marijuana is prohibited, and only medical use is allowed; in several others, it is prohibited altogether.
U.S. states where medical use of marijuana is allowed
- Alabama
- Arkansas
- Delaware
- Florida
- Hawaii
- Louisiana
- Maryland
- New Hampshire
- Minnesota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Pennsylvania
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Utah
- West Virginia
Marijuana use prohibited in U.S.
- Georgia
- Idaho
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Mississippi
- Nebraska
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
