How does he plan to legalize marijuana?
Sanders‘ proposes to deschedule marijuana, which would completely remove it from its classification under the Controlled Substances Act as highly dangerous and without any medicinal value.
Marijuana is now classified in the most restrictive category under federal drug laws — Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act — along with heroin and LSD.
Sanders would remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act through the attorney general by an executive order within the first 100 days of his presidency. He would also nominate agency leaders for the Justice Department and Health and Human Services who would work toward this goal.
How would his plan address criminal justice concerns?
Sanders would direct federal and state authorities to expunge all cannabis convictions and provide resources to automate the process.
A lack of funding and technology has plagued efforts to automatically expunge cannabis convictions at the state level. Sanders’ plan would provide federal dollars to states to partner with organizations to automate the process — similar to local partnerships that exist in California and Illinois with the non-profit Code for America.