Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream published their take on marijuana legalization and decriminalization Saturday, calling for policy overhaul and criminal justice reform.
In a website post, “Let’s Be Blunt About Justice,” the ice cream company highlighted racial disparities in drug arrests. While black people and white people use cannabis at similar rates, black people are arrested at disproportionately higher rates.
Many states have passed laws making medical and recreational use of marijuana legal, and many recreational users celebrate the drug during the 4/20 holiday, sending the hashtag #Happy420 trending Saturday on Twitter. But the company detailed how of 8 million cannabis-related arrests between 2001 and 2010, a black person was almost four times as likely to be arrested for possession than a white person, as reported by the ACLU.
The company called on Congress to expunge convictions and provide pardons to anyone arrested for possessions. Cities including Seattle and San Francisco have already enacted this policy.
Some members of Congress have echoed the company’s message.
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., said Saturday that it is time for this policy to extend to all states, and to legalize marijuana nationwide.
“Cannabis criminalization disproportionately impacts communities of color,” Omar tweeted Saturday morning. “We must finally legalize cannabis nationwide and expunge records for those incarcerated for cannabis-related offenses.”
Marijuana is still classified as a Schedule I drug at the federal level. Congress has prohibited the Drug Enforcement Agency from arresting those in possession in the states that have legalized marijuana.
Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions lobbied against this stance, however. A staunch opponent of marijuana legalization, Sessions wrote a letter to Congress in 2017 asking to reverse their policy and allow the drug agency to take action in states that have legalized marijuana.
President Trump said on the campaign trail that he was in support of medical marijuana, but his appointments of Jeff Sessions and his successor William Barr, who has also opposed legalization, left advocates and business owners are unsure about their futures.
