Vice President Kamala Harris is on a mission to make penalties for marijuana-related offenses less harsh, and she has now recruited Fat Joe to the cause.
On Friday, March 15, Harris hosted a discussion on the topic at the White House, and it featured Fat Joe and others. As the Associated Press notes, the rapper “moderated a subsequent closed-door discussion that included Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and individuals who received pardons for prior marijuana convictions.”
Harris said during the event, “I cannot emphasize enough that they [Department Of Health And Human Services and Department Of Justice] need to get to it as quickly as possible and we need to have a resolution based on their findings and their assessment. But this issue is stark when one considers the fact that on the schedule currently marijuana is considered as dangerous as heroin,” she said during the public portion of the meeting. Marijuana is considered as dangerous as heroin and more dangerous than fentanyl, which is absurd. Not to mention patently unfair. So I’m sure DEA [Drug Enforcement Administration] is working as quickly as possible and will continue to do so and we look forward to the product of their work.”
As NPR notes, Harris also said plainly, “Nobody should have to go to jail for smoking weed.”