{"id":70549,"date":"2023-11-29T11:54:42","date_gmt":"2023-11-29T19:54:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2023\/11\/29\/cory-booker-says-marijuana-criminalization-is-one-of-the-root-problems-fueling-environments-where-gun-violence-proliferates\/"},"modified":"2023-11-29T19:46:20","modified_gmt":"2023-11-30T03:46:20","slug":"cory-booker-says-marijuana-criminalization-is-one-of-the-root-problems-fueling-environments-where-gun-violence-proliferates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2023\/11\/29\/cory-booker-says-marijuana-criminalization-is-one-of-the-root-problems-fueling-environments-where-gun-violence-proliferates\/","title":{"rendered":"Cory Booker Says Marijuana Criminalization Is One Of The \u2018Root Problems\u2019 Fueling Environments Where Gun Violence \u2018Proliferates\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) says that addressing the country\u2019s gun violence epidemic requires a holistic understanding of the \u201croot problems\u201d that are \u201ccorrelative of violence\u201d\u2014from poverty to housing security to mass incarceration driven by discriminatory marijuana criminalization.<\/p>\n

At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday, the senator said that, too often, the conversation around gun violence prevention fails to take into account the laws and policies that \u201ccreate environments where violence proliferates.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHigh lead poisoning levels, high poverty levels, inadequate housing\u2014I could go on and on and on,\u201d Booker said. And taking that a step further, he pointed out that incarcerating people for low-level offenses like cannabis possession contributes to cycles of poverty and job insecurity that foster environments where violence can manifest.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat frustrates the hell out of me is cities have too much of the policing we don\u2019t need, where I watch kids getting arrested for doing things kids at Yale and Stanford did when I was there,\u201d Booker said. \u201cNow they\u2019ve got records and can\u2019t get jobs because they were arrested on marijuana charges when we have had presidents and senators bragging about their pot usage.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat that does economically to a city is stunning when you have mass incarceration for low-level non-violent drug crimes,\u201d the senator said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Watch Booker discuss marijuana criminalization\u2019s consequences, starting around 1:56:08 into the video below:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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It was one of several recurring talking points that he was known to make during his 2020 presidential campaign, which he also used to more broadly advocate for federal cannabis legalization.<\/p>\n

To that end, the senator has previously sponsored comprehensive reform legislation. This session, however, he\u2019s largely focused on pushing for the inclusion of equity-centered provisions in a bipartisan cannabis banking bill<\/a> that\u2019s moved through a Senate committee and is pending action on the floor.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s argued that the failure to advance a banking fix for the industry \u201cliterally means that hundreds of businesses go out of business.\u201d<\/a> While Booker previously vowed to block the banking legislation before legalization is enacted, his rhetoric has shifted in recent sessions as he\u2019s embraced the incremental reform so long as it\u2019s paired with provisions to address the harms of the drug war.<\/p>\n

In April, the senator also said that it\u2019s been \u201cfrustrating\u201d to see marijuana legalization fall short of equity goals, which he said is partly due to ongoing federal prohibition. And while he\u2019s pushing for reform, he notably characterized cannabis as a \u201cdangerous\u201d drug<\/a> that hasn\u2019t been studied enough.<\/p>\n

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Supreme Court Weighs Whether Hemp Legalization Affects Gun Possession Mandatory Minimums For Man With Marijuana Convictions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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The post Cory Booker Says Marijuana Criminalization Is One Of The \u2018Root Problems\u2019 Fueling Environments Where Gun Violence \u2018Proliferates\u2019<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n


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\nRead More: Cory Booker Says Marijuana Criminalization Is One Of The \u2018Root Problems\u2019 Fueling Environments Where Gun Violence \u2018Proliferates\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) says that addressing the country\u2019s gun violence epidemic requires a holistic understanding of the \u201croot problems\u201d that are \u201ccorrelative of violence\u201d\u2014from poverty to housing security to mass incarceration driven by discriminatory marijuana criminalization. At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday, the senator said that, tooContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[81,126],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70549"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70549"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70549\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70550,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70549\/revisions\/70550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

Booker has repeatedly discussed the criminal justice double-standard in terms of marijuana enforcement<\/a>, often citing the disconnect between the relative lack of consequences for primarily white students at Ivy League colleges who use cannabis compared to Black and brown people who face disproportionate arrests over the same activity.<\/p>\n