Sanders deserves kudos for raising this issue. As a nation, we imprison more people than any other country in the world, and minorities and the poor suffer disproportional abuse.

Sanders is also right that voting rights should not be stripped from victims of a systemically racist prison system.

Why Cory Booker Cares So Much About Legal Weed

But when Cory Booker, the New Jersey senator and 2020 presidential candidate, looks at the question of legalizing cannabis, he sees the stakes very differently. For Booker, the real problem is the unjust enforcement of marijuana laws — against black and brown Americans, whose usage rates are no different than their white counterparts but who are arrested at astronomically higher rates.

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/2020-cory-booker-legal-weed-pot-cannabis-why-826232/

Sanders courage to actually take the risk and lead on cutting edge issues is one reason so many people support him.

Kudos to Cory for championing that aspect of the issue.

they become well understood by enough people that politicians can no longer ignore or avoid them. He has done this consistently throughout his political life. Regardless of what anyone may think of him, he is a national hero in my view.

He may not win the nomination, probably won't (actually, most likely won't imo), but history will remember him as the political hero he is.

There is NO reason not to. Unless you are on the Big Pharma pay-wagon.

I'm 65 and see no reason I shouldn't be able to buy a bit of weed to relax at home. I don't like to drink alcohol or take pills, BOTH of which is much more harmful than pot, IMO.

I know it's a minor issue. But for a liberal nominee to be against pot in this day and age, just gets in my craw.

federal prohibition of cannabis is overdue for extinction.

it’s also turning into a significant jobs issue now that legal weed is the fastest growing industry in our nation

I feel fortunate to live in a legal state but it should be legal everywhere

And, when you look at how the damage was increased with welfare reform and other constricting economic policies, nothing about damaging racist sentiments/policies and a willingness to cater to white supremacists is new. It was just "normally" more subtle and propped up institutional racism and misogyny.

Warren was in front of congress challenging economic oppression, Bernie argued against it at the time. We have younger candidates who see it for what it was, and suddenly there is excitement around someone who is willing to defend the indefensible.

and other economically oppressive measures.

an example of the worst of the Clinton years. Great to hear Bernie voted against it.

Increasing the damage that came from removing income providers from families. It's all connected to enabling anti union and pro-corporate influences which have benefited from the expansion of a large desperate labor pool to exploit.
Michelle Alexander and Laura Briggs break it down well.

thank you loyalsister.

Are you perhaps confused? Here is what Politifact said about Sanders position opposing so called "welfare reform":

The Vermont senator said the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act, which both Democratic President Bill Clinton and a bipartisan Congress supported, contributed to poverty today.

"What welfare reform did, in my view, was go after some of the weakest and most vulnerable people in this country," Sanders said at a Feb. 24 press conference in South Carolina. "During that time, I spoke out against so-called welfare reform because I thought it was scapegoating people who were helpless, people who were very, very vulnerable. Secretary Clinton at that time had a very different position on welfare reform. ... Now what happened as a result of that so-called welfare reform bill? Since legislation was signed into law, the number of families living in extreme poverty has more than doubled from 636,000 to 1.6 million."

We wondered if the number of families living in extreme poverty — defined as households living on less than $2 in cash per person per day — has more than doubled, and we also wanted to know if the 1996 legislation caused that trend.

We found that the best estimates show Sanders’ numbers are right on, and there is some well-regarded research that ties welfare reform to the rise in extreme poverty.

https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/mar/02/bernie-s/sanders-welfare-reform-more-doubled-extreme-povert/

I see where my language was confusing. But, I am saying that the 90s enthusiastic support the crime bill and welfare reform predictably enabled a white supremacist system, and I think it's unforgivable.

in the 90's, he did so with a strong warning that the bill might have unintended consequences. Of course, he was right and his continued attempts to modify and soften the bill failed because $$$ influence of the corporate prison industry had bought all the votes they needed, and, sadly, some were Democrats.

Elizabeth Warren wasn't even in the Senate in the 90's when welfare "reform" and the crime bill were passed. Bernie voted against the lousy welfare reform bill.

voted for it because of the Violence Against Women's Act and the ban on assault weapons.