Future president Kamala Harris fessed up today to having smoked pot like pretty much everyone born after the invention of television, and she did so in the most awesome way possible. During an interview this morning on "The Breakfast Club," Harris was asked to clarify her stance on marijuana legalization. The "Kamala's Just A Big Mean Cop" narrative insists the senator wants to personally de-groove every house party in America. The sister shot that down quick.
CHARLAMAGNE THA GOD: They say you oppose legalizing weed.
HARRIS: That's not true. And look I joke about it, half joking -- half my family's from Jamaica, are you kidding me?
2020 candidate Kamala Harris says she supports legalizing marijuana and acknowledges trying pot in the past: "I thi… https://t.co/TEPM2BzDj6— CNN (@CNN) 1549897800.0
Harris was then asked if she'd ever personally lit up a fatty. She confirmed she had, while throwing some mild shade at Hillary's boo.
HARRIS: I have. And I inhaled. I did inhale.
During the 1992 presidential campaign, Bill Clinton admitted to "experimenting" with pot in his youth, but he assured us that he "didn't like it" and "didn't inhale." Maybe he would've enjoyed it more if he'd inhaled. It's like a vegan declaring they don't like meat because they'd "experimented" with rubbing raw steak over their stomach and it didn't work for them. However, times were different back then, and it was important to Americans that our elected leaders not know how to use drugs correctly.
Ever since Clinton, journalists have asked politicians the pot question so often you'd think entire courses in journalism school were dedicated to "Jazz Cigarettes and the Modern Political Candidate." They usually dance around the subject and if they do admit to toking up, it's often spun as some stupid thing kids do that they currently regret. It's like confronting Cory Booker with a photo of him sporting a flat-top fade. "We'd all seen New Jack City. I thought I could hang. It was a one-time thing."
(Barack Obama notably didn't run away from the question of inhalation, explaining simply that "that was the point." FACTCHECK CORRECT.)
Our girl Kamala Harris has no regrets, and during the interview she briefly recorded a commercial for cannabis.
HARRIS: I think it gives a lot of people joy. And we need more joy.
Every pot shop in the nation should have "We Need More Joy" printed on their front door. If Harris has read Marie Kondo's book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, it's a safe bet that any edibles or bongos in her residence survived the "Does this bring you joy?" test.
Harris declared her support for Senate colleague and presidential rival Booker's Marijuana Justice Act back in 2018, so this isn't simply election-season pandering. She points out that marijuana criminalization has led to the incarceration of many men of color at levels not seen among other young men who got just as fucked up.
She does believe, though, that we need to "research the impact of weed on a developing brain" and how marijuana use impacts driving ability. This is all very sensible, and it's great to hear candidates supporting science. Conversely, Republicans support no restrictions on gun ownership while opposing any serious research on gun violence.
Harris is trying to win a primary here so she wouldn't go so far as to confess to currently smoking pot, which is legal in her home state of California. However, it's safe to say that even if she were stoned off her ass, she'd be a better president than the current White House squatter.
Harris's full interview on "The Breakfast Club" is below and worth watching in its entirety.
[CNN]
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Stephen Robinson is a writer and social kibbitzer based in Portland, Oregon. He writes make believe for Cafe Nordo, an immersive theatre space in Seattle. Once, he wrote a novel called “Mahogany Slade,” which you should read or at least buy. He's also on the board of the Portland Playhouse theatre. His son describes him as a “play typer guy."
