Bernie Sanders’ Day-One Pledge: Weed Legal Throughout U.S.

With the kickoff of the Iowa Caucus, today is the first day we’ll hear from Democrat voters, in any official way, about the 2020 race for President. And at least one candidate is promising to legalize cannabis if he’s elected. Forbes reports that Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has made a pledge to make marijuana legal in all 50 states, on day-one of his presidency, if elected. In Bernie’s own words, “We will end the war on drugs.”

Sanders says he would use an executive order, a power afforded to the President for certain measures, to make cannabis legal in all 50 states. He also promised to make the move away from prohibition advantageous to those who have suffered most from the war on drugs.

The article quotes Sanders as saying, “We will move forward to expunge the records of those arrested for possession of marijuana. And we will make certain that the legalized marijuana industry is not controlled by a handful of corporations but that those people—the African-American community, the Latino community, the Native American community—those people who have suffered the most will get help in order to make money through a legalized marijuana industry.”