Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman (D) pushed back on “stupidity” and invoked the president’s name in a “weed day” call to change the law.
“…it’s not anarchy and that’s really the truth about it.”
(Video: Fox News)
The self-described libertarian leanings of the Keystone State’s freshman senator were prominent in a Friday interview with Fox News Digital. One day ahead of April 20, an annual holiday for those who partake in marijuana, Fetterman didn’t mince words when he asserted, “Let’s make it legal.”
“I mean, it’s not complicated. Other states have done that. All the states surrounded by Pennsylvania are…and the stupidity of not legalizing marijuana,” the still stroke-recovering senator stated, knocking restrictions, particularly for non-violent offenses. “And now, it’s just so straightforward.”
“And right now, we’re doing this interview in Washington, D.C. and right now I could leave, go buy marijuana legally and the world isn’t spun off its axis, it’s not anarchy and that’s really the truth about it.”
During his 4/20 push toward decriminalization, Fetterman argued that both Democrats and Republicans wanted “legal weed” and he indicated how he had encouraged President Joe Biden to change marijuana’s designation under the Controlled Substances Act where it is listed as a schedule I substance with drugs considered to have “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.”
Biden, who had issued a blanket pardon for anyone with marijuana possession offenses covered by federal law and within the nation’s capital, also used Saturday’s smoking significance as an opportunity to pander from his personal account.
In back-to-back messages posted to X, the president spoke out against jail time for marijuana possession and encouraged state executives to follow his example in issuing pardons.
“Sending people to prison just for possessing marijuana has upended too many lives and incarcerated people for conduct that many states no longer prohibit. It’s time that we right these wrongs,” read one post over an image of a quote attributed to Biden, “No one should be jailed just for using or possessing marijuana.”
“I’m urging all governors to pardon prior state offenses of simple possession of marijuana. No one should be in a federal prison solely due to the possession of marijuana, and no one should be in a local jail or state prison for that reason, either,” the account reiterated.
Sending people to prison just for possessing marijuana has upended too many lives and incarcerated people for conduct that many states no longer prohibit.
It’s time that we right these wrongs. pic.twitter.com/0avI1FmWf9
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) April 20, 2024
I’m urging all governors to pardon prior state offenses of simple possession of marijuana.
No one should be in a federal prison solely due to the possession of marijuana, and no one should be in a local jail or state prison for that reason, either.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) April 20, 2024
As for concerns about drug use among young people, Fetterman argued the law should be no different than alcohol that prohibits consumption for anyone under 21-years-old and that legalization would drive down costs removing the motivation for shady sales by bad actors.
“I would rather have it come from a safe, pure place,” he told Fox News Digital. “And I’ve been very clear, it should not be any younger than 21 just like alcohol.”
“Young brains can be impacted [by] marijuana and we want to maintain that it should be 21. Any adult should be allowed to do that legally without any criminal throwback — I mean blowback,” added the senator.
Not addressed by Fetterman were some previously reported concerns stemming from legalized marijuana that included greater potencies that have made “psychotic episodes…increasingly common to the point that they’re actually kind of characteristic features to the psychosis these kids are getting from the weed,” Dr. Drew Pinsky had told Fox Business while citing a 50% increase in cannabis-induced-disorder emergency room visits between 2019 and 2020.
He also warned that the concentrations have led to increased rates of addiction.
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Author: Kevin Haggerty
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