If elected, Bernie Sanders promises to legalize cannabis by decree

With the 2020 U.S. presidential election approaching, it is time for the many candidates to start campaigning. Vermont Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders took part in The Joe Rogan Experience, a podcast in which he outlined his plan to legalize cannabis by executive order if he were to be elected next year. He noted that cannabis is classified in Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, just like heroin or ecstasy, was «nonsense.» «That’s crazy,», Sanders said. «Heroin is a deadly drug. You can debate the pros and cons of marijuana, but marijuana is not heroin. So we have to put a stop to this, and that’s what I’m going to do.».

Sanders added that he believed the United States would eventually be forced to legalize cannabis. He emphasized that, following legalization, retroactive restorative justice measures across the country would be a good thing, such as This was announced in Canada last week. New York State is also in the process of implementing similar measures.

Convictions for drug possession in the United States are indeed very common—and very severe. « »Let me tell you this: when I ran for president in 2016, I spoke about a criminal justice system in shambles—one that ends up putting more people in prison in the United States than in any other country,« Sanders said on the podcast. «We have more people in prison than China, which is an authoritarian communist country. In America, we have more than two million people in prison. They are disproportionately African American, Latino, and Native American. I think that in the richest country in the history of the world, instead of building more prisons and locking up more people, we really need to invest in our young people—especially young people in struggling communities.”