Kamala Harris Supports No Jail Time ‘for Smoking Weed’ Despite Jailing Nearly 2,000 People for Marijuana Offenses
Vice President Kamala Harris expressed support for marijuana legalization, noting that “people should not be” jailed “for smoking weed,” despite her record of having overseen nearly 2,000 convictions for marijuana-related offenses.
During an interview with All The Smoke podcast, when asked about her views on cannabis, Harris expressed that it was time to legalize marijuana and that they needed to “stop criminalizing” smoking weed.
“I just feel strongly, people should not be going to jail for smoking weed,” Harris said. “And, we know historically what that has meant and who has gone to jail.”
“Second, I just think we have come to a point where we have to understand that we need to legalize it and stop criminalizing this behavior,” Harris added. “And so, I’ve actually… this is not a new position for me. I have felt for a long time we need to legalize it, so that’s where I am on that.”
As Breitbart News has reported, Harris stated during a roundtable event in March that she believes “nobody should have to go to jail for smoking weed.”
Harris and President Joe Biden have also made statements in posts on X that “no one should go to jail for smoking weed,” after the Department of Justice took steps to reclassify marijuana from a Schedule I drug to a Schedule III drug.
The support from Harris to legalize marijuana comes after she had overseen almost 2,000 convictions for marijuana-related offenses while she served as the district attorney of San Francisco, according to data obtained by the Bay Area News Group, Mercury News reported in 2019.
Harris was criticized by former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (I-HI) regarding her prosecutorial record during a Democratic primary debate in 2019.
During the debate, Gabbard stated that Harris “put over 1,500 people in jail for marijuana violations,” referencing numbers from an article by the Washington Free Beacon, which used data from the time that Harris served as the attorney general of California, according to the Mercury News:
During the last presidential debate in July, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard blasted Harris over marijuana convictions, saying she “put over 1,500 people in jail for marijuana violations and then laughed about it when she was asked if she ever smoked marijuana.” Gabbard was misleadingly citing figures for all of California while Harris was attorney general — even though the vast majority of marijuana cases in the state are prosecuted by independently elected county district attorneys.
As San Francisco DA from 2004 through 2010, however, Harris had wide latitude to decide which marijuana cases to prosecute and what sentences to seek in the city.
“Over Harris’ seven years as top prosecutor, her attorneys won 1,956 misdemeanor and felony convictions for marijuana possession, cultivation, or sale, according to data from the DA’s office,” the outlet reported. “That includes people who were convicted of marijuana offenses and more serious crimes at the same time.”
