Presidential hopeful Kamala Harris would legalize marijuana across the US

Washington — US senator and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris (D-CA) presented this Tuesday a bill for legalizing marijuana throughout the United States, local media reported.

Harris, who as district attorney for San Francisco opposed the decriminalization of marijuana, has joined forces with Congressman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) to promote the proposed law that includes taxing the industry.

The motion comes days before Harris will partake in the second debate with the other 19 hopefuls for the presidential candidacy of the Democratic Party in 2020.

The bill, entitled the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act, proposed using 50 percent of the tax money coming from the sale of the weed to create fiduciary funds that would finance job training and legal assistance for imprisoned users.

CBS television network said the legislation seeks to lift the severe prison sentences applied to marijuana consumers and promote minority-owned businesses in this growing industry.

At present, 33 of the nation’s 50 states and the District of Columbia have approved measures that in some way legalize the use of this substance, either for medical or recreational purposes.

But the federal government considers the production, marketing and use of marijuana to be a crime and, as part of the so-called “war on drugs” declared in the 1980s, millions of people have been given harsh prison sentences for their ties to this particular drug.

“Racially motivated enforcement of marijuana laws has disproportionately impacted communities of color,” said House Judiciary Chairman Nadler.

“It’s past time to right this wrong nationwide and work to view marijuana use as an issue of personal choice and public health, not criminal behavior,” the lawmaker said.

For her part, Harris said that “as marijuana becomes legal across the country, we must make sure everyone - especially communities of color that have been disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs - has a real opportunity to participate in this growing industry.”

Last February, Harris admitted in a radio interview that she herself had smoked marijuana “a long time ago,” when she was at university. EFE-EPA jab/cd