President Joe Biden’s administration has announced the first in a series of events centered on marijuana reform: a roundtable discussion with Vice President Kamala Harris, rapper Fat Joe, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, and others.
Hosted by Harris in the West Wing this upcoming Friday, the event will be the administration’s first action since Biden’s announced earlier this month that his cabinet will “review the federal classification of marijuana.” Additionally, Biden is looking at “expunging thousands of convictions” for possession, and joining the roundtable discussion will be a number of individuals who received pardons for prior cannabis convictions.
“Friday’s engagement will build on the Vice President’s efforts to uplift the historic actions the Biden-Harris Administration has taken to ensure everyone has access to opportunity, including by making the criminal justice system more just,” a White House official said, according to NBC News. “This will continue in the weeks and months to come.”
Currently, marijuana is classified as a Schedule 1 substance, alongside heroin and LSD (fentanyl, meanwhile, is Schedule 2). However, now all but 10 states have legalized some form of the drug, and polling, especially among younger voters, indicates support to reform laws around it. In recent years, the numbers of those incarcerated solely for marijuana possession has waned, but possession arrests continue to pervade over-policed communities.
For her part, Harris famously revealed that she smoked weed in her youth when running for president in 2019, though we still don’t know what kind of music she listened to when she was high. As for Fat Joe, he’s been interested in criminal justice reform for several years, and in 2022 indicated a desire to get into the cannabis industry. In May, he’ll perform at the Lovers & Friends festival in Las Vegas — get tickets here.
Meanwhile, if you’re living somewhere with legal access, revisit Consequence’s 4/20 rundowns of the top 50 stoner albums and the top 25 weed movies.
