Harris: ‘No one should go to jail for smoking weed’

(The Hill) – Vice President Kamala Harris, during a late-night show interview, supported the Biden administration’s decision to pardon thousands of Americans convicted of simple marijuana possession, saying, “No one should be indicted for smoking weed have to go to jail.”

Harris told Seth Meyers on NBC’s Late Night With Seth Meyers that a majority of Americans would agree with her, which earned a round of applause from the audience.

The vice president said the pardons are the first step in taking further action to decriminalize marijuana nationwide.

“We urge governors and states to follow our lead in pardoning people criminalized for marijuana possession,” said Harris, who has served as a prosecutor and attorney general in California. “Ultimately, however, as with so many issues, when Congress acts, there is a unified approach. But Congress must act.”

While 19 states and Washington, DC have legalized recreational marijuana and 37 states allow medicinal marijuana use, cannabis use is still illegal at the federal level.

President Joe Biden drew applause last week when he pardoned all those convicted under federal law of simple marijuana possession.