Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders is open to states legalizing marijuana.
Speaking at George Mason University earlier this week, the democratic Vermont senator announced his support for reforms that would allow states to legalize marijuana, according to CNN.
In front of an audience of over 1,700 students, Sanders said, “Too many Americans have seen their lives destroyed because they have criminal records as a result of marijuana use. That’s wrong. That has got to change.”
Furthermore, Sanders proposed that the federal government should remove marijuana from its list of dangerous drugs, a move that allow states to legalize it and regulate its sales, and also freeing marijuana users from the risk of federal prosecution.
Currently, marijuana is classified as a Schedule 1 drug, which are classified as drugs having “a high potential for abuse” and having “no currently accepted medical treatment use in the U.S.”
Other Schedule 1 drugs include heroin, LSD, and bath salts.
Meanwhile, medical marijuana is available for sale in nearly half the country, with Alaska, a typically Republican state, having recently legalized it for recreational use, according to the Washington Post.
Other democratic candidates have also expressed their progressive views on marijuana, with long-shot hopeful Martin O’Malley, former governor of Maryland, saying that he would reclassify marijuana as a less-strict Schedule 2 drug.
Frontrunner Hilary Clinton has repeatedly said that she wants to further study the effects of legalization in Colorado and Washington before committing to a decision.
In Colorado, marijuana sales recently topped $100 million for the month of August, bringing the yearly total to $639 million through eight months of counting.
Sanders has maintained an open dialogue about the possibility of legalizing marijuana in the future, saying at the first CNN presidential debate that it was time to “think through this war on drugs.”
When asked about how he would vote on a Nevada ballot question legalizing recreational use, Sanders said, “I would vote yes because I am seeing in this country too many lives being destroyed for non-violent offenses.”