(WWJ) While multiple states continue to debate legalizing marijuana, one presidential hopeful is making a promise to do it the federal level.
While campaigning in Iowa, Senator Bernie Sanders told supporters that adults in all 50 states will be able to legally light up on Inauguration Day — Wednesday, Jan 20, 2021 — if he's elected in November.
"We will end the destructive war on drugs," the Democratic candidate said at rally in Cedar Rapids. "On my first day in office through executive order we will legalize marijuana in every state in this country."
Also part of his plan, Sanders said, is helping communities that have been harmed by the drug war's enforcement.
"We will move forward to expunge the records of those arrested for possession of marijuana," Sanders continued. "And we will make certain that the legalized marijuana industry is not controlled by a handful of corporations but that those people — the African-American community, the Latino community, the Native American community — those people who have suffered the most will get help in order to make money through a legalized marijuana industry."
Marijuana remains a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act.
Meanwhile in Michigan, recreational marijuana sales have totaled more than $12 million since legalization on the state level went into effect Dec. 1, 2019.
