Bernie Sanders introduces Bill to legalize Recreational Marijuana

Posted by Sagar Satapathy on November 06, 2015.

Bernie Sanders, an independent Senator running for the Democratic Presidential nomination, has gone a step further to introduce a Senate bill that would legalize recreational marijuana use on a federal level. This is the first-ever Senate legislation, which seeks an end to marijuana prohibition in the United States.

The legislation seeks to remove marijuana from the Drug Enforcement Administration's list of "most dangerous drugs" and from the Controlled Substances Act, which regulate certain drugs in the United States. Sanders had hinted last week that he would work hard to end the federal ban on marijuana. He openly batted for decriminalization of marijuana, saying lives of many people were destroyed because they had criminal records owing to marijuana use.

'Drug Reform' has been one of the key objectives of Bernie Sanders in this Presidential poll although he is yet to receive a positive nod from the primaries. Republican Presidential hopeful Donald Trump has also come out in support of marijuana. According to the statistics, 88% of the total arrested made in the U.S.A. between 2001 and 2010, were attributed to marijuana possession. And, Black Americans always bore the brunt.

While Sanders has openly endorsed use of marijuana, his competitor Hillary Clinton remains vague on this issue. Hillary clarified that she would prefer to wait and see how all states respond to the call before taking action on a federal level. Out of 50 states in the U.S.A, only 23 and District of Columbia, have so far legalized medical marijuana. Some of them such as Colorado, Alaska and Oregon have allowed the use of recreational pot.

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