Sanders’ campaign has been facing allegations of sexism recently for telling Clinton at the Democratic debate that “all the shouting in the world” won’t necessarily make sensible gun reform happen.
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Sanders’ Democratic rival for the presidential nomination, Hillary Clinton, has said she would like to see how legalization works out in states like Colorado and Washington (“laboratories of democracy”, as she called them) before she takes a position on what should happen at the federal level. “That is wrong, and we are going to change that”, Sanders said, stressing the effect of economic hardship on young Americans.
A key reason, as he explained Wednesday, is “there is a racial component” to enforcement of marijuana laws, with far more black people than white people arrested for marijuana possession. It would allow businesses in states that have legalized marijuana to use the banking system without fear of federal prosecution.
Sanders has hinted at his lack of enthusiasm for marijuana laws in the past, often woven into his rallying cries against economic injustice and for prison reform.
The Vermont senator called for marijuana to be removed from the federal government’s list of most risky drugs (it is now listed as a schedule 1 drug by the DEA, the most severe category) and said states should be given more power to regulate it.
“It is time to end the arrests of so many people and the destruction of so many lives for possessing marijuana”, he said.
Sanders also had remarkably low support among African American voters, gaining only 8 percent support from the important minority group. She does kind-of sort-of support letting states legalize marijuana depending one the day of the week and who’s asking the question (as shown by her answer at the first Democrat debate versus her comments the following day during an interview).
“I’ve been interested in politics since I was 7 years old…I can say with total honesty that Bernie Sanders is the most authentic candidate that I’ve ever seen”, Lofgren said. At the conclusion of his speech, Sanders urged all students to “not fall into the trap of thinking small”.
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“I haven’t been shouting, but sometimes when a woman speaks out, a few people think it’s shouting”, she said. College campuses across the country also held simulcast events, as the town hall was streamed live on Sanders’ official website.
