To Vice President Kamala Harris, words speak louder than actions, after she stated “nobody should have to go to jail for smoking weed” over the weekend, but oversaw 2,000 weed-related offenses while she was San Francisco’s district attorney.
Speaking in Austin, Texas, on Saturday (October 8), Harris commented on President Joe Biden’s announcement that he would be pardoning federal convictions for simple possession of marijuana.
Harris stated, “We are also changing, y’all might have heard that this week, the federal government’s approach to marijuana.”
“Because the bottom line there is: Nobody should have to go to jail for smoking weed,” she continued her brief commentary on the pardons.
However, her Saturday remarks were a stark contrast to her actions while she served as San Francisco’s district attorney. In 2020, Bay Area News reported Harris oversaw roughly 2,000 convictions while she was district attorney.
Then, while running for California attorney general — a position she would secure — in 2010, Harris opposed a statewide ballot measure that could green-light marijuana usage, describing the move as “flawed public policy.”
During her time as California’s attorney general from 2011 to 2017, Harris oversaw a further 1,974 marijuana-related convictions.
Yet, while running for President in 2020, Harris indicated she would support the legalization of marijuana in a radio interview where she admitted to smoking weed during college and referred to her Jamaican heritage to support her pro-weed stance.
At the time, Harris said, “Half my family’s from Jamaica. Are you kidding me?”
Her comments drew the ire of her Jamaican-born father Donald Harris, who noted her family “must be turning in their grave right now to see their family’s name, reputation and proud Jamaican identity” being used by Harris to purport a “fraudulent stereotype of a pot-smoking joy seeker.”
