WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris and rapper Fat Joe led a White House discussion Friday about reducing marijuana penalties. Harris stated that it’s “ridiculous” for the federal government to classify marijuana as more dangerous than fentanyl, the synthetic opioid responsible for tens of thousands of deaths in the United States each year.
Harris, a former state prosecutor in California, also criticized the federal categorization of cannabis as “unfair.” The government is currently reevaluating how it categorizes marijuana, and Harris urged for the process to be finished as soon as possible.
Fat Joe, a Grammy-nominated artist and philanthropist whose real name is Joseph Cartagena, led a following private discussion that included Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and individuals who were pardoned for previous marijuana convictions.
President Joe Biden has pardoned thousands of people for federal marijuana possession and reduced long sentences for nonviolent drug offenses. In 2022, he encouraged governors to pardon state offenses. Beshear then invited individuals convicted of simple marijuana possession to apply for pardons in Kentucky. Biden initiated the process to reevaluate how marijuana is classified in 2022.
A significant majority of U.S. adults, about seven in 10, support legalizing marijuana, according to Gallup polling. The support for legalization is even higher, nearly eight in 10, among 18- to 34-year-olds, a demographic whose support for Biden has weakened since he took office.
“I cannot stress enough that they need to complete it as fast as possible and we need to have a decision based on their findings and assessment,” Harris mentioned concerning the Departments of Health and Human Services and Justice, which are managing the review.
“But this issue is striking when you consider the fact that marijuana is currently classified as dangerous as heroin,” she stated during the public part of the meeting. “Marijuana is considered as dangerous as heroin and even more dangerous than fentanyl, which is absurd. Also, it's very unfair.”
“So I’m confident that the DEA is working as fast as they can and will continue to do so, and we are anticipating the result of their work,” the vice president remarked, referring to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Fentanyl is a strong synthetic opioid responsible for tens of thousands of deaths annually in America.
U.S. regulators are examining the reclassification of marijuana, moving it from a drug that has “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse,” referred to as “Schedule I,” to the less tightly regulated “Schedule III.”
Biden brought up the marijuana classification review during his State of the Union address earlier this month. He mentioned during a campaign appearance in Milwaukee this week that “no one should be jailed for marijuana.”
“If you’re just using, you should have that wiped off your record,” Biden said.
Cartagena began the roundtable by stating he is passionate about price transparency in health care “but, today, when the vice president calls me, I stop everything.”
He got a little too eager when he started to dismiss journalists so the private discussion could start, causing Harris to ask him to wait because she also had a statement to make.
