{"id":78102,"date":"2024-10-02T09:44:56","date_gmt":"2024-10-02T17:44:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2024\/10\/02\/former-nba-player-says-he-smoked-marijuana-before-interviewing-kamala-harris-and-jokes-he-might-sneak-something-in-to-white-house-if-she-wins\/"},"modified":"2024-10-02T19:46:21","modified_gmt":"2024-10-03T03:46:21","slug":"former-nba-player-says-he-smoked-marijuana-before-interviewing-kamala-harris-and-jokes-he-might-sneak-something-in-to-white-house-if-she-wins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2024\/10\/02\/former-nba-player-says-he-smoked-marijuana-before-interviewing-kamala-harris-and-jokes-he-might-sneak-something-in-to-white-house-if-she-wins\/","title":{"rendered":"Former NBA Player Says He Smoked Marijuana Before Interviewing Kamala Harris And Jokes He Might \u2018Sneak Something In\u2019 To White House If She Wins"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

Appearing on a recent podcast, Vice President Kamala Harris notably reiterated her support for legalizing marijuana<\/a> for the first time as the Democratic presidential nominee. Now, in the wake of that conversation, a host of the show is acknowledging that he got high before interviewing Harris, joking that he might have to \u201csneak something in\u201d to the White House if she wins.<\/p>\n

\u201cI smoked before I went. I pregamed as I was studying, just like I was watching game film,\u201d said Matt Barnes, who played 14 seasons in the NBA and now works as a sports analyst a co-host of the All the Smoke podcast. \u201cAnd then I headed over.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barnes, who was responding to questions about the interview while himself appearing on another podcast, The Dan Le Batard Show, said he didn\u2019t smoke on-site at the interview, but he quipped that he might try to \u201csneak something in\u201d to the White House in the future if Harris is elected president.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did not, unfortunately, get to smoke in the White House. But but if she wins, I was invited back, and I may try to sneak something in,\u201d he said, adding, \u201cNah, I\u2019m playing.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the substance of his interview with Harris, Barnes explained that he was personally interested in digging into the details of criminal justice matters around cannabis but wasn\u2019t sure if a deep dive would appeal to the podcast\u2019s audience.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to get into the weeds of stuff, but we only had 30 minutes,\u201d Barnes said, noting that while some people fault Harris for her record as a prosecutor, the Biden administration has also pardoned people with past federal marijuana convictions and encouraged further relief at the state level.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did want to get into these,\u201d he told Le Batard Show, but \u201cknowing my fan base, and understanding that this stuff is interesting to me but it may not be interesting to our core audience\u2026it was really a thin line.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Barnes and co-host Stephen Jackson, another former NBA player, ultimately spoke to Harris for close to 45 minutes, during which the candidate repeated a common Biden administration refrain that \u201cpeople should not be going to jail for smoking weed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI just think we have come to a point where we have to understand that we need to legalize it and stop criminalizing this behavior,\u201d Harris said.<\/p>\n

While that was the first time she made that position on marijuana part of her current presidential campaign, the vice president emphasized that it\u2019s \u201cnot a new position\u201d for her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have felt for a long time we need to legalize it,\u201d she told Barnes and Jackson. \u201cSo that\u2019s where I am on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last month, meanwhile, Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz said he thinks marijuana legalization is an issue that should be left to individual states<\/a>, adding that electing more Democrats to Congress could also make it easier to pass federal reforms like cannabis banking protections.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s an issue for the states on some of those, and that\u2019s the way the states have done it,\u201d Walz, who is Minnesota\u2019s governor and previously served in Congress, said, dodging a reporter\u2019s direct question about national cannabis legalization.<\/p>\n

During that interview, Walz highlighted two incremental reform issues: medical marijuana access for veterans who receive healthcare through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) as well as passage of federal legislation that would ease restrictions for banks that due business with marijuana companies.<\/p>\n

If Democrats take control of both houses of Congress, he said, those matters might be easier to address.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s work to be done nationally around the banking issue,\u201d he said in the Spectrum News\u00a0interview\u00a0that was posted on September 14, \u201cand I think that\u2019s something that if we get a working Congress who actually wants to solve some issues\u2014when we have the Democrats in charge of the House and the Senate\u2014then we can start to see if some of those things make sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harris, for her part, has spoken in favor of federal legalization in the past, for example at\u00a0a closed-door roundtable event with cannabis pardon recipients<\/a>\u00a0in March. In her previous run for president, Harris also\u00a0backed full federal decriminalization for simple drug possession<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile former President Donald Trump said recently during his campaign for a second term that he now supports federal marijuana rescheduling and marijuana banking access.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs President, we will continue to focus on research to unlock the medical uses of marijuana to a Schedule 3 drug, and work with Congress to pass common sense laws, including safe banking for state authorized companies, and supporting states rights to pass marijuana laws, like in Florida, that work so well for their citizens,\u201d Trump posted to social media earlier this month.<\/p>\n

Trump also recently discussed the medical benefits<\/a>\u00a0of cannabis and said legalization would be \u201cvery good\u201d for Florida, which will consider the reform at the ballot box in November\u2019s election.<\/p>\n

The Harris\u2013Walz campaign, however, has\u00a0accused Trump of lying about his support for marijuana reform<\/a>\u2014arguing that his \u201cblatant pandering\u201d runs counter to his administration\u2019s record on cannabis.<\/p>\n

Following Trump\u2019s recent announcement of support for the Florida cannabis legalization ballot measure, the Democratic campaign has been working to remind voters that while in office,\u00a0Trump \u201ctook marijuana reform backwards.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

In a memo from a senior campaign spokesperson, the Harris\u2013Walz campaign accused Trump of \u201cbrazen flip flops\u201d on cannabis, saying it\u2019s one of the Republican former president\u2019s \u201cseveral bewildering \u2018policy proposals\u2019 that deserve real scrutiny.\u201d<\/p>\n

The posturing by the presidential candidates comes amid an ongoing process of moving marijuana to the less-restrictive Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).<\/p>\n

The Department of Health and Humans Services (HHS) this spring recommended moving the drug to Schedule III, but the action has faced resistance from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), which has\u00a0scheduled a hearing on the proposal for December 2<\/a>\u2014after the presidential election,\u00a0raising concerns that the process will not be completed<\/a>\u00a0until after a new president is inaugurated.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Trump also recently\u00a0went after Harris over her prosecutorial record on marijuana<\/a>, claiming that she put \u201cthousands and thousands of Black people in jail\u201d for cannabis offenses\u2014but the full record of her time in office is more nuanced.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s line of attack, while misleading, was nonetheless notable in the sense that the GOP presidential nominee implied that he disagrees with criminalizing people over marijuana and is moving to leverage the idea that Harris played a role in racially disproportionate mass incarceration.<\/p>\n

As president, Trump largely stayed true to his position that marijuana laws should be handled at the state-level, with no major crackdown on cannabis programs as some feared after then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded the Obama era federal enforcement guidance. In fact, Trump\u00a0criticized the top DOJ official and suggested the move should be reversed<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While he was largely silent on the issue of legalization, he did tentatively endorse a bipartisan bill to\u00a0codify federal policy respecting states\u2019 rights to legalize<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That said, on several occasions he released signing statements on spending legislation stipulating that he\u00a0reserved the right to ignore a long-standing rider<\/a>\u00a0that prohibits the Justice Department from\u00a0using its funds to interfere with state-legal medical marijuana programs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Before President Joe Biden (D) bowed out of the race, his campaign made much of the president\u2019s mass cannabis pardons and rescheduling push, drawing a contrast with the Trump administration\u2019s record<\/a>. The Harris campaign so far has not spoken to that particular issue, and the nominee has yet to publicly discuss marijuana policy issues since her own campaign launched.<\/p>\n

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Hundreds Of Women Are Being Prosecuted For Using Marijuana Or Other Drugs While Pregnant Following Roe\u2019s Repeal, Report Shows<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer.<\/em><\/p>\n

The post Former NBA Player Says He Smoked Marijuana Before Interviewing Kamala Harris And Jokes He Might \u2018Sneak Something In\u2019 To White House If She Wins<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n


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\nRead More: Former NBA Player Says He Smoked Marijuana Before Interviewing Kamala Harris And Jokes He Might \u2018Sneak Something In\u2019 To White House If She Wins<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Appearing on a recent podcast, Vice President Kamala Harris notably reiterated her support for legalizing marijuana for the first time as the Democratic presidential nominee. Now, in the wake of that conversation, a host of the show is acknowledging that he got high before interviewing Harris, joking that he mightContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81,126],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78102"}],"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\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78102"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78103,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78102\/revisions\/78103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}