Vice President Kamala Harris at last addressed marijuana policy issues, a subject she avoided for much of her tenure as California Attorney General (2004-2010). At a Texas Democratic Party reception, Harris talked about President Joe Biden’s most recent decision to pardon those incarcerated for previous federal weed convictions, reports marijuana moment.
After touching the appointment of the US Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the VP said“Speaking of the justice system, we’re also changing — you may all have heard this week — the federal government’s approach to marijuana.”
harris added that “nobody goes to jail for smoking weed”.
Pardons aren’t for everyone
Interestingly, while the The president’s move is expected to affect 6,500 Americans, including nearly 2,000 people sentenced in San Francisco during Harris’ tenure not be affected because their convictions were at the state level and not at the federal level. Between 2004 and 2011, her office prosecuted 1,956 misdemeanors and criminal convictions for possessing, growing, or selling cannabis.
Quiet, Niki Solisan attorney with the San Francisco Public Defenders Office said, “No one can say she was draconian in prosecuting marijuana cases.”
Also, she was the only one to speak about cannabis during the 2020 vice presidential debate. On TV event In Salt Lake City, Harris reiterated that a Biden-Harris administration would decriminalize cannabis and erase the records of those with cannabis-related convictions.
However, the Biden administration was evade the issue of marijuana decriminalization for years, with Harris saying in a 2021 interview with The San Francisco Chronicle that given the COVID-related challenges of the past two years, they’ve been too busy to address the issue.
“Honestly, right now our focus has been getting people to eat, helping them stay in their homes or at home, getting kids back to school, getting shots…
