Bernie Sanders Wants to End Marijuana Prohibition
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders wants to make it easier for you to spark up.
The popular Vermont senator has introduced the Ending Marijuana Prohibition Act, a bill to end federal prohibition of marijuana for recreational use. Weed is currently on the federal list of Schedule I Drugs, which are the “most dangerous” substances that have no accepted medical use and have potential for abuse.
The Senator hopes this bill will help relieve the criminal justice system of non-violent offenders. During the first Democratic debate in Las Vegas, Sanders said, “I am seeing in this country too many lives being destroyed for non-violent offenses. We have a criminal justice system that lets CEOs on Wall Street walk away, and yet we are imprisoning or giving jail sentences to young people who are smoking marijuana. We need to rethink our criminal justice system, we we've got a lot of work to do in that area."
The Ending Marijuana Prohibition Act would remove federal intervention and give the states the liberty to decide whether or not they want pot to be legalized. The bill proposes we treat marijuana similarly to alcohol and will include a structure for regulating the drug.
While it's too early to tell the long-term impact of such a measure, early reports from Colorado seem to indicate that de-criminalization of recreational marijuana won't cause the chaos that those opposed to the measure imply would happen.
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