©Reuters. FILE PHOTO: US Vice President Kamala Harris looks on from inside the House Chamber, ahead of US President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on Capitol Hill in Washington, the United States, March 7, 2024. REUTERS/Tom Brenner/File Photo
By Trevor Hunnicutt
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris plans to bring together rapper Fat Joe and several people pardoned by the Biden administration for marijuana-related convictions on Friday for a public White House debate on criminal justice reform.
The meeting comes as Harris, a Democrat, is tasked with convincing people of color and young voters to give her and President Joe Biden a second four-year term, out of fear that voters dissatisfied with slow-moving political reforms might skip the November elections.
The United States incarcerates more people than any other country. Of these 1.9 million people, approximately 1 in 5 are behind bars for drug-related crimes.
Blacks and Latinos are disproportionately incarcerated, while drug law reform has the broadest support among young voters. Every constituency favors Democrats.
Biden, who has at times disappointed activists with conservative views on narcotics use, nevertheless proposed easing treatment of the psychoactive plant under federal law and pardoned thousands of convictions for simple possession of the drug.
He mentioned both positions during his State of the Union address last week, marking the first time a president has used the congressional address to tout an easing of marijuana policy.
Some activists favor full legalization of the drug and have criticized the administration for firing some employees for drug use in the past.
Biden has said racial equality would be one of his administration’s top priorities and was elected in the aftermath of widespread street protests over the 2020 killing of George Floyd, who was Black, by a police officer Minneapolis.
He supported a reform agenda but distanced himself from efforts to dramatically reduce criminal penalties. Voters’ concerns about crime often figure in attack ads during the US election campaign.
The president has pursued executive actions including banning most chokeholds and limiting no-knock warrants for federal law enforcement, but more sweeping reforms have been sidelined or blocked in Congress, disappointing liberal voters .
Joining Harris in the conversation on Friday was rapper Fat Joe, a five-time Grammy nominee and advocate for criminal justice reform, a White House official said Wednesday.
The Department of Health and Human Services last year recommended that cannabis be reclassified from its current treatment as a “Schedule I” drug along with heroin because it has no accepted medical use and has a high potential for abuse.
They recommended that it be treated, like testosterone and codeine cough syrup, as a Schedule III drug with moderate potential to cause addiction.
The decision, which now rests with the Justice Department’s Drug Enforcement Administration, would improve the tax treatment of marijuana businesses and allow for more medical research.