Vermont Senator and presidential candidate Bernie Sanders introduced a bill on Wednesday to lift the federal ban on marijuana.
Advocates say it’s the first such bill ever to be introduced into the Senate. If passed, it would remove marijuana from the federal government’s list of Schedule I drugs. That list includes substances such as LSD and heroin.
While this bill would not legalize marijuana, it would leave its legal status up to the states.
Last week, at his national town hall of students, Sanders announced his support for ending marijuana prohibition. That makes him the only presidential candidate with such a stance on this issue.
At the CNN presidential debate a few weeks earlier, Sanders signalled his support for legalizing marijuana for recreational use when asked whether he would vote in favor of a local Nevada measure that would do just that.
“I would vote yes because I am seeing in this country too many lives being destroyed for non-violent offenses,” he said. “We have a criminal justice system that lets CEOs on Wall Street walk away, and yet we are imprisoning or giving jail sentences to young people who are smoking marijuana.”
