Vice President Kamala Harris hosted rapper Fat Joe and others at the White House for discussions on the administration’s efforts to decriminalize marijuana.
White House Director of Public Engagement Steve Benjamin and Gov. Andy Beshear (D-KY) also took part in the discussion, which comes as President Joe Biden and Harris kick their reelection campaign into overdrive.
Harris opened her remarks by first thanking Fat Joe and Beshear for “having the courage to challenge certain traditions and critically evaluate whether what we’ve been doing is smart and what can we do to be smarter.”
“I believe that the promise of America includes equal justice under the law, and, for too many, our criminal justice system has failed to live up to that core principle. I say that with full knowledge of how the system has worked, including my experience as a prosecutor,” Harris said.
As of 2023, 70% believe that marijuana should be legalized in the United States, according to polling conducted by Gallup. That number rises to 80% among those under the age of 35.
Biden vowed on the 2020 campaign trail to decriminalize marijuana and expunge convictions for simple marijuana possession, the overwhelming majority of which involve black and Hispanic Americans. However, he has yet to make good on that promise in full.
The president directed the Department of Health and Human Services to review reclassifying marijuana as Schedule III, and the department made that recommendation last year. The Drug Enforcement Agency must clear the change before the reclassification is made official. The president has also pardoned or commuted sentences for thousands of people convicted of simple marijuana crimes, though that does not expunge their records.
Biden himself mentioned his efforts to reclassify marijuana and wipe convictions for simple possession during his State of the Union address, marking the first time he discussed the drug in his annual address to the nation.
The president himself reiterated his promise to reform the justice code so that no one is jailed for using or possessing marijuana.
“I’m taking care of that,” Biden told supporters in Milwaukee.
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You can watch Harris’s remarks in full below.