California Senator Kamala Harris held it down for the people of California. As the DOJ readies to bring back more severe jail sentencing, Kamala gave a strong message.
Per Leafly
California Sen. Kamala Harris spoke out against the Trump administration’s drug policies yesterday, advising Attorney General Jeff Sessions that her state needed no help “in going after grandma’s medicinal marijuana.”
Harris, the state’s former attorney general and a rising star in national Democratic circles, made her remarks at the Ideas Conference in Washington, DC, on Tuesday.
“Let me tell you what California needs, Jeff Sessions,” Harris said during a conference keynote. “We need support in dealing with transnational criminal organizations and dealing with human trafficking – not in going after grandma’s medicinal marijuana.”
The Ideas Conference, put on by the Center for American Progress, is widely viewed as a testing ground in the Democratic Party’s search for their new standard bearer.
Harris wasn’t done after making the “grandma’s medicinal marijuana” comment.
‘We need to do the smart thing, the right thing, and finally decriminalize marijuana.’
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA)
The freshman senator took aim at Sessions’ recent sentencing memo, which directs federal prosecutors to pursue the toughest criminal penalties possible in all cases.
“While I don’t believe in legalizing all drugs – as a career prosecutor I just don’t – we need to do the smart thing, the right thing, and finally decriminalize marijuana,” Harris said.
Sessions’ push for maximum sentences, she said, is a revival of the failed war on drugs, in which minorities were disproportionately incarcerated while the nation’s drug issues only grew worse over time.
“Instead of going after violent crime, drug cartels, and major traffickers, we’re worried about the neighborhood street-level dealer,” she said. “Instead of addressing the core issue of addiction and getting folks into treatment, we’re going to overcrowd and build more prisons.”
Harris certainly picked up some new fans after that statement. She’s currently on a press tour.