Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said Sunday that he fails to see the value in the incarceration of people for marijuana use.
“When it comes to decriminalization, I don't think that there is value to individuals or to society to lock people up for marijuana use." I don't think that serves anybody well,” Murthy told Dana Bash on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“I do think that, in terms of our approach to marijuana, I worry when we don't let science guide our process in policy-making,” he continued.
US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy says he doesn't think "that there is value to individuals or to society to lock people up for marijuana use" but emphasizes the need to "let science guide our process and policymaking" #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/g3gNEDEcQ8
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) July 18, 2021
This comes after Senate Democrats unveiled a draft bill of the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act last week to federally decriminalize marijuana. It would also expunge federal nonviolent marijuana crime convictions, allow incarcerated marijuana offenders to petition for lesser sentences, remove marijuana from the federal list of controlled substances and impose a federal tax on marijuana products.
The proposal would continue to allow states to set their own marijuana policies and would remove collateral substance consequences such as immigration-related offenses.
For decades, young people have been arrested and jailed for carrying even a small amount of marijuana.
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) July 14, 2021
It's long past time for change.
I’m standing today with @RonWyden and @SenBooker to release our draft of the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act.
When asked if he supports the decriminalization of the substance from a health perspective, Murthy said that, on the topic of marijuana, “we have to let science guide us.”
He pointed out that, based on science, there are benefits marijuana use but also acknowledged “some harms we have to consider.”
“We have to put those together as we think about the right policy,” he continued.
Murthy said that his role as surgeon general is to “work with policy-makers, to work with members in the community and the general public to help people understand what science tells us and, where you have gaps, to help fill those gaps with research and with honest inquiry.”
White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters last week following the unveiling of the draft bill to federally decriminalize marijuana that President Joe Biden's opposition to the substance's decriminalization remains. However, she did say that the president would be “encouraged” by incremental reform efforts such as the decriminalization of marijuana possession.