Two weeks ago, at the first DNC debate, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) was asked whether or not he would support marijuana legalization in Nevada – where the debate was held and whose residents will vote on cannabis prohibition in 2016.
“I suspect I would vote yes,” Sanders said, “and I would vote yes because 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 giving jail sentences to young people who are smoking marijuana. We have to rethink this war on drugs… We have to rethink our criminal justice system and we’ve got a lot of work to do in that area.”
It didn’t take Sen. Sanders long to get to work. The Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act, filed on Wed., would see marijuana removed from the controlled substances act and regulated from state to state. It would still prohibit transportation of marijuana between states, but it would remove the federal constraints that have long held back sound, scientific research.
The bill is the first of its kind to be presented in the U.S. Senate.