Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Cory Booker and Sen. Ron Wyden announced this week that they are working to advance comprehensive marijuana reform legislation.
“The War on Drugs has been a war on people — particularly people of color,” the senators said in a joint statement on Monday. “Ending the federal marijuana prohibition is necessary to right the wrongs of this failed war and end decades of harm inflicted on communities of color across the country.”
“But that alone is not enough,” the statement continued. “As states continue to legalize marijuana, we must also enact measures that will lift up people who were unfairly targeted in the War on Drugs.”
Former NBA journeyman Al Harrington, who played 16 years of professional basketball, is a leading advocate for reforming marijuana laws and has been pushing lawmakers to enact change.
The CEO and co-founder of the cannabis company Viola Brands, Harrington told Yahoo News that Black Americans deserve to have an equitable share of a booming marijuana industry that once “destroyed” parts of the Black community.
“Right now we represent less than 4 percent of the industry, especially when you talk specifically to Black ownership and participation,” Harrington said. [Read More @ Yahoo]
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